The UN has delivered a withering verdict on the US’s human rights record, raising concerns on a series of issues including torture, drone strikes, the failure to close Guantánamo Bay and the NSA’s bulk collection of personal data…
…The committee also expressed alarm about the continued use of the death penalty in a 16 states, the “still high number” number of fatal shootings by certain police forces, notably in Chicago and the high proportion of black people in the country’s jails.
And the gall of the USA to condemn the Russian invasion of Crimea without loss of life after USA invaded Iraq with the loss of 100 X thousands of innocent life. The cheek of it!
If you actually bothered to connect to the real world, the Ukrainian death toll is currently at 75 and will no doubt be vast if Russia and Ukraine go to war. I see no value in jumping around and pointing fingers at the sins of the US when a possibly even worse bloodbath is about to occur
Yes, what’s a little torture between virtue ethicists. They’re our friends! They only torture bad guys, except for when they get the wrong guy, but you can hardly blame them for making a mistake! Everyone makes mistakes.
Today’s sick offering in Stuff illustrates why Duncan Garner’s work needs to be digested with a clothes-pegged nose. Today he starts with a story of a glazier who couldn’t obtain a building apprenticeship, while Fletcher Construction and fellow travelers are importing workers for the Christchurch rebuild. He then blows on the old dog-whistle, implying that the young unemployed are feckless dole bludgerswho should to be forced to work on the Christchurch building sites. Since Fletchers and others are the recipients of massive corporate welfare, they should be forced to provide employment and trade training opportunities for our youth. Instead, they are maximising on the unique profit-making situation the Government has gifted them by bringing in overseas navvies.
Seemingly, Garner’s brain cells are more idle than the hordes of lazy dole bludgers that exist more in his imagination than reality.
As PG seems to be here on TS a lot lately, I thought I would check out Politicheck’s website and their Twitter account to see what was happening.
There seems to be nothing new on the website since the announcement of staff appointments on March 10. Likewise, the latest entry on their twitter account was on March 15.
All these examples of dirty tricks, whisper campaigns and character assassination go by without comment. Our media are captured, lazy and unable to function properly.
Can’t forget the new front in the Nats media machine Gossip.
something ‘funny’ has also happened to john armstrong over the last couple of days..
..after earlier in the week penning one of the few intelligent/considered looks at the possible benefits for both mana party and internet party from forming an alliance-lite umbrella party to fight the election..
..today he is right/write on message – with the official-line..
..and has done a piece that totally pisses all over/rips up what he wrote 48hrs earlier…
..and is basically a vomit all over dotcom and all he stands for..
..and he laughs hysterically at any possibility of any electoral-success..
..on so many levels/ways..w.t.f. happened..?
..and which john armstrong should we give any credence to..?
Barking mad the lot of them, the dogs of National’s disinformation service, Armstrong, Trevett, O’Sullivan showing spasms of the fear that they echo on behalf of the 9th floor of the Beehive,
Does Armstrong have info from someone that us mere peasants are not privy to, in this morning’s grand gush of vitriol He does not mince words about the chances of DotCom being extradited,
”When he is extradited” is Armstrong’s ‘line’ pointing the finger at the Judiciary as having already decided the fate of DotCom,
What causes Armstrong to be so certain about the outcome, has He had word, along with the order to bark long and loud in an attempt to disparage DotCom that ‘the system’ has agreed to close ranks to rid the country of this interloper onto the political playing field???,
To pen such words as ”when He is extradited” with regards to DotCom implies certainty of knowledge from Armstrong, within such an admission is one of broader concern which suggests, far from the common belief, that the Judiciary is as tainted by the same open bias that appears to be the driving force behind the scribblings of Armstrong and the other dogs of the National Party disinformation service…
Armstrong does makes some valid points. Particularly relevant are those about would be voters for the ip not really being the mana demographic, friend of the poor/left which is quite unbelievable given his past form, which does make many think ‘wool over eyes’, and of course the whole paragraph about the real motive behind the party launch – To keep .com from being extradited.
The Alien, reading your comment i just about had a little ‘barking fit’ of my own, ”When He is extradited” is definitely what i read this morning,
Just about makes me want to go out and find the print edition of the Herald(National Party disinformation service),
Could John have been awoken from His slumbers at his computer terminal by the editorial staff telling Him to edit that piece because they have read the inference that i make about the words ”when He is extradited”,
While i cannot ‘swear’ that what i read this morning was what i read my opinion is the piece has suffered a speedy ‘edit’, to subtly change the blunt statement ”when He is extradited” to something a little more elongated but in essence saying exactly the same thing, Paragraph Six says this:
–”And that it will not fold the moment He and the Party’s main source of income move offshore through being extradited to the United States” unquote John Armstrong
There is no IF evident there,so it is still an event that Armstrong ‘sees’ as a given although as exhibited by the part of Paragraph Six i reproduce above there is an obvious softening from the blunt ”when he is extradited’ that i read this morning…
I don’t doubt what you read as on-line content is subject to change, just saying I didn’t see it in the article I linked to, speaking of which, I prefer this quote.
“Dotcom’s purpose in setting up the Internet Party is solely to make it a bottom-line of any post-election talks that whoever is Minister of Justice quash any court ruling which would force his extradition. Such a bottom-line would be preposterous and would amount to Dotcom’s party being the sickest joke played on New Zealand voters.”
i think Armstrong has something wrong with His memory, ”National will not be raising GST” widely broadcast as coming out of the mouth of Slippery the Prime Minister in 2008 prior to the election was a far sicker joke than a slight corruption of the system that Armstrong points to when that system already corrupted itself by allowing DotCom and any number of other’s who could be said to have characters far from unblemished into the country based upon their having ‘money’…
The nats letting weirdo colin and who ever is leading act at the moment in to parliament rivals the .com party as far as sick jokes go, but sadly, that’s what politics seems has come to in it’s race to the bottom.
I’m well aware your not fond of Kim Allen, but a question?
Do you think what Kim allegedly does is a criminal matter or a civil matter.
Because all I see is a civil matter.
If the Hollywood studios can’t sort this civil matter out without having to call in our very own ‘Keystone cops’ The New Zealand Police force, that by the way was seemingly handed over to them by a subservient Government then Hollywood have real problems.
And to take this a bit farther and I’m just day dreaming a bit now, but you really have to wonder if Key in one of his big headed moments, with a nose full of coke said, “leave it to me boys I can save you a fortune in Lawyers fees, I’ll just have the GCSB and the NZ Police sort it out.”
I’m no Lawyer either but I have a lot of faith in the system that we have and basically it works like this, when something new comes to light, it will be tested in law at some stage, I think this is a good system, sure there will be some winners and losers initially at times and some people will make a fortune if forward thinking, but lets take a breath and look at the alternative, which is every new idea has to be tested in law before we have any idea what will happen when it’s used in the real world, which is basically impossible, the genie is out of the bottle.
So basically Napster was a president in Law and since then the music industry has used that to protect and fight for their intellectual/property rights and the same applies here, yet in this case they tried to go down the criminal path from the beginning, when it really was only a civil matter, sure the US have thrown in money laundering and racketeering with the copyright infringement but really it’s about copyright infringement first and the rest is up to the tax department, lets not forget copyright infringement goes on every day in just about every house in this country.
As I understand it the presiding judge looks at the information presented for the extradition hearing by both parties, and makes a decision based solely on that information to make a decision, which is whether there is a case to answer, or not.
And that is all.
There is no jury or anything else – this is in accordance with the Extradition Act.
No you are quite wrong. Most of the decision is made by the judge and much of it is about the applicability of the extradition application to laws in NZ. Since the laws he is charged under in the US aren’t appliciable here, I would say it is a travesty.
Rather than being a lazy papa, raise your standard and read the MFAT summary. It will make you look less of a stupid limp dick…
Checked out the internet party app last this morning. The list of permissions is a bit different to most.
Allow to send messages, record audio, take pictures stand out. Seems unnecessary but I don’t really know how these things work all my other apps dont allow these.
Can anyone offer a more qualified opinion?
They’re attacking a fairly frivolous, comparatively-small amount of spending. It allows them to say ‘look, we attack National government spending too!’ and thus ‘prove’ that they’re independent and unbiased. This comes in handy when they’re later asked why they never criticise the huge wastefulness of the costs of flogging our assets, or the massive amount spent by Treasury on consultants, etc.
There is nothing odd about it at all. I would not be providing financial support to the Taxpayers Union if it was partisan. It is not aligned with any political party:
“The Taxpayers’ Union is 100 per cent politically independent. We are not affiliated with any political party and will never become a political party. ”
Its objective is to promote fiscal responsibility. Indirectly it also promotes policies that protect the poor. It is the poor who get screwed by poor government.
Morrissey………you’re too much. First good belly laugh of the day for me !
Moving on to other matters. Russel Norman on The Nation with Potty G.
“Have you ever smoked a joint ?” “Yes”.
That’s it. A simple, no bullshit “Yes”.
No no no hang on……..it was Gower doing the asking.
Watching it the words “Have you……you prick ?” immediately sprang to my mind. Not Russel Norman though. Perfectly done. More impressive every day that man.
My answer – “Nah……Morrissey, legally as yet, gives me all the giggles I need”.
“When so-called iwi leaders condemn teachers for daring to highlight the massive failings of the New Zealand education system for Maori children in case the Minister of Education might be embarrassed, then they show themselves up as a sad and pathetic group for whom the warm embrace of government has become more important than the needs of their own children and grandchildren.”
…“I am gutted that people who purport to represent Maori people could be so bloody selfish and blind, and I urge them to face up to the realities and demand concrete action to eliminate child poverty in this land of enormous wealth.”
Way to call it Hone, ‘the Iwi Leaders’ look way out of line barking their objections to legitimate protest,
i suppose having the likes of Parata and Slippery the Prime Minister paying to fly them here and there along with the tongue bath of the major ‘Slurps’ dished out their way for the ongoing support of the current regime must make them feel ‘big’,
Its sad to see ‘the leaders’ take the side of the Government while ignoring the plight of the worst off of their people, but,it’s happened befor and i dare say will happen again…
I wouldn’t go so far as to call this a happy ending, more a barely adequate resolution:
The Dunedin City Council has paid $3900 for the leg irons Mayor Dave Cull pulled from an auction after an investigation he instigated confirmed they could have been used to restrain Maori political prisoners almost 150 years ago… Mr Cull said although the shackles were already Dunedin City Council property, it was easier to buy them from Mr McCormack than start legal proceedings… The North Island descendants and Otakou runanga would be consulted on the future of the shackles. ”They are still ours and we get the final call, but out of respect since it was their tupuna shackled up in the damn things, we will ask them what they would like to see happen to them.”
Still no answers as to what happened to the other shackles that were there when these were stolen. Plus, with this precedent; it now seems to be open season on any historical artifact in Dunedin that can be swiped with 3 hacksaw blades or less.
They would appear to have rusted away. The obvious deteriation was the reason McCormack nicked them in the first place. Those caves should be made into a museum of this shameful and neglected episode of NZ history.
I’m not convinced by the “rusted away” story – though do recall it from the initial auction article. I strongly suspect the remnants of those shackles are in private hands (perhaps those that looted them, or maybe not even still in the country). Toitu (the Otago settlers museum) was supposed to be in charge of the artifact investigation. Perhaps their examination of the historical site will yield further information?
Reading between the lines, I’d say it was likely to be McCormack’s “late brother” who wanted to hold onto the things. It certainly seems likely that they were shown to others in the 40-odd years since since they were taken (and reconnected with a few links of train chain). But i doubt that an altruistic urge to arrest the artifact’s deterioration was the reason for them sawing their way into a locked cave.
Phil – you are on a roll although I wish you weren’t 🙂
The Greens could be part of a government that signs up to the controversial Trans Pacific Partnership trade agreement, co-leader Russel Norman has conceded.
His comments on TV3’s The Nation this morning come ahead of nationwide marches against the TPP which are due to take place this afternoon.
Just watched the interview and this is closer to what Norman actually said “The TPP would have to change “very significantly” before the Greens would vote in favour of it.”
Of course the GP could be part of a govt that does things that the GP disagrees with. How else can coalitions be formed?
I’m not clear re the TPP, whether a house-wide vote is required, or whether they mean a decision within caucus. Does anyone know?
Any good reason why the GP in govt can’t abstain on votes or vote against legislation act by act?
Metiria Turei has posted this on Facebook:
“Metiria Turei
Don’t listen to Paddy Gower, he twists everything to what he wants to say not what is real. The Green Party opposes the TPPA. If we are in a govt with Labour it will be bec we have influence and we will use that influence over the TPPA as well as lots of other policies. We will have more influence if we have more votes so we need your Party Vote on September 20 to strengthen our arm in the negotiations. You have the power to influence the outcome on the TPPA and deep sea oil drilling. For the sake of our people and oceans, please use that power on September 20.”
Given that we’ve all seen what wee Paddy can do, I believe her.
In that case you should get in touch and ask her. As unbelievable as most of us would find it, your posts and your blog may not be the first items on her list of “must reads” each day.
Nah, with you, it’s always about you. You crave attention so much you have a Pete George like ability to settle for abuse and contempt. It’s about you so much that you expect that people will pay to read your blog. You have one of the largest and most undeserved egos I’ve ever come across. You misunderstand almost everything you read, then call others liars. Oh, it’s about you alright. You have a total inability to let it be about anything else.
Basically, Norman said the Greens would be pragmatic in any post-election deals as they have been in every case in the past (excluding GMO). Meanwhile Gower was trying his damndest to put words in Russel’s mouth.
What did you expect Russel to say, Phil?
“I’m not going to compromise on anything!”???
Can’t wait for the spun version of the interview from Gower on TV3 tonight.
Did he say he was going to compromise on everything?
No he did not.
He was realistic that whatever they could achieve would be dependent on their party vote. At one point I think he actually implored the viewer to vote Green so they would have more bargaining power post-election.
He wasn’t going to be drawn into a crystal-ball session just because Gower wanted him to say something he could hang him on.
I hope that Labour changes their position on TPP. I’m hoping that their position is really just Goff’s position and that Labour will change that in the near future.
They look foolish and untrustworthy to bang on about neoliberalism and then still support TPP.
Yeah OK Phil – welcome to ShonKey Python, then the Milky Bar Crud, then the poncey wee Simon Bridges, then some entitled little Young Nationals git who right now is still at Kings College – as our prime ministers from here until 20 years hence.
You’re reminding me of the virgin who while aching to get into it absolutely won’t get into it for fear that it won’t be perfect straight off and it might be messy. And fuck’n moaning about the lack of it. Lighten up for fuck’s sake.
Russel Norman/Metiria Turei/all the Greens are light years more real and gifted than ShonKey Python and his band of venal, mainchance sociopaths. They’ve been the only real opposition to the sociopaths for at least the past three years Phil ! Give them a little bit of credit man. Instead of being insufferably impeccable all the time. Grizzling old virgin you.
I’m not a Greenie either. Renewed my MANA Movement membership just the other day. Shit it felt good !
Can folks on The Standard pool information about which of our Member of Parliaments were speaking or standing with the people at the 16 locations this afternoon?
Quite obviously, Natz puppets would be safely tucked away in their corporate cupboards.
Greens have been very visible all round the country, I understand.
Were any Labour MPs or candidates out and about, and where?
I don’t have to spin anything, especially you making contradictory statements in the space of two posts, that’s plain to see by all.
I’ll wear your pedant medal like I wear the chuckle at your disingenuous perception.
For the record, I’m watching the replay of the nation and Norman explicitly said he was against deep sea drilling… That’s strike one.
On the tpp about whether the Green party could vote for the tpp he said, “it could potentially, but it depends” [on the size of the green vote and what the tpp contains]. Strike two
I can only repeat what I’ve just seen and heard, but it does differ from what you’ve stated, well the first time any way. The second time, when you said “he may well vote for the tpp” you got it correct.
Most rational folk will agree that Norman’s main thrust was the more votes the Green party gets, the stronger it’s negotiating position, and thus more party policy makes it to the statute book.
I’m happy to disagree, but certain those more qualified and invested in Green politics than I, can explain it to you.
I don’t have TV reception, and can’t see any online clips yet on the TV3 site of Norman’s Nation interview. However, I am more inclined to regard The Allen’s summary as the accurate one. I guess I’ll have to wait until after tomorrow to know for sure.
It does seem contradictory for the Green Party to both support today’s anti-TPPA rally, but on the same day have their co-leader state that he’ll vote for it.
“..It does seem contradictory for the Green Party to both support today’s anti-TPPA rally, but on the same day have their co-leader state that he’ll vote for it…”
doesn’t it..?
..you could call this the exposing the inherent contradictions interview for norman..
..and i guess..like allen..you will see/read/believe what you want to see/read/believe..
..but i don’t think i will be the only one making that call on normans’ revelations..
I don’t see how, the caveat on my music page clearly states I can’t sing or play, and I do advise the listener have cotton buds and bleach close to hand, just in case they need to rinse their ears.
Likewise I’m sure the Greens aren’t trying to con anyone out of a vote by becoming seriously electable and using the tools at their disposal to put forward their message. It’s not a sin or crime or double standard, just like Dylan using an electric guitar wasn’t a sell out or a bad thing.
But the Greens are doing well as a 15% party vote shows. They can sing there own tunes, with or without electronic aid, I don’t mind 😉
“If I were an old school green party supporter I would be feeling a bit gutted by this, and as I am, I am. What the fuck have they done to ‘my’ party?”
The edit is mine, as a little Saturday gift 😉
To answer, I think what they have done is make the party much more electable to a wider section of the electorate.
It’s still my intention to give them my party vote in September, and I’ve seen or heard nothing from them that has caused me to contemplate changing my mind. The party looks to be in good shape, based on sound principles, headed by professional, dedicated mps.
Who could want more from a left of centre party than an electable, credible partner in government shaping the direction of a still ‘wonky’ Labour party?
“It does seem contradictory for the Green Party to both support today’s anti-TPPA rally, but on the same day have their co-leader state that he’ll vote for it.”
It would indeed if Norman had said that, but he didn’t. What he said was that the agreement would have to change hugely for the GP to support it. He also didn’t say that he or the GP will support deep sea oil drilling or fracking. Nor did he say that legalising cannabis isn’t a priority. It was actually Gower that said the first two things and phil that said the third thing. I think The Al1en’s summation above is pretty good, and here is the link for those that can watch it online
No he didn’t say those things either, and I didn’t say he did. You really do have trouble with comprehension phil. All I have done is watch the video and point out that your portrayal was quite inaccurate. I’m not the only one that has done that.
Norman confirmed there were no bottom lines for the Green Party to support a Labour-led government.
Unlike genetically engineered organisms in 2002, the TPPA is not a bottom line for the Green Party in 2014. Whatever else he says, this is the pertinent point.
He also said he did not think legalising cannabis would be on the party’s key priority list in post election negotiations.
They’re valid questions, because this once radical party may be on the brink of holding ministerial posts.
As Sue Bradford suggested in the panel discussion afterwards, the party has changed and is now focused on the centre vote, and more willing to compromise.
Having said that, Gower needs to broaden his question base from bottom lines, it’s tiresome.
Surprisingly, Phil is completely wrong. Russel Norman explicitly says the Greens are against deep sea drilling and fracking, and support the decriminalisation of cannabis. Gower tries hard to push him into a corner, but is not successful.
What he says about the actions of a government in which the Greens might play a part is quite reasonable. They will fight for their policies and how successful they are will depend on the weight of seats. From his point of view, it would be irresponsible to say much more than this.
No-one is claiming the Greens will actively support policies against their core principles, just that they are not making them bottom lines in terms of giving support to Labour to form a government. There is a difference. Sue Bradford on the panel afterwards said that if she was a Green member, she would be worried by the extent to which the party has moved to the centre. She said she was surprised by some of Norman’s answers. Everyone knows politics is about compromise, but people have a right to feel disappointed if it’s a core issue for them, surely.
“Everyone knows politics is about compromise, but people have a right to feel disappointed if it’s a core issue for them, surely.”
I’ve lived in NZ for nearly 50 years and I’ve never had a govt or political party who met my expectations. I don’t really know why people on the outside of the bell curve expect things to be the way they want. I thought the point of being on the edge was to lead the way. The GP have been doing that for a long time. It’s now time for them to step into the responsibility they’ve been working for and that means being mainstream. There will have to be compromises, but I don’t see any problem with what they have done to date. Once the GP gain govt, I expect to be thoroughly pissed off with them within the decade, but I completely support the move they are making in that direction now. The best thing about that TV3 piece was Fitzimmons saying how not having cabinet posts worked in their favour and for the betterment of the country. The point there isn’t that staying outside of govt is best, but that the GP plays the game smart. They still are, it’s just that smart is a different strategy now. She also said that it was more important back then for them to build the GP long term. I feel such gratitude to her and those other GP workers right now, because that foresight and hard work is about to pay off.
Yes people can feel disappointed, but then they start slagging off the GP by misrepresenting what the GP is doing then they can expect to be called on it.
People can listen to it for themselves. He said decriminalisation woudn’t be on the top 10 issues. Anyone who hadn’t rotted their brain cells past the ability to write a coherent sentence, let alone understand one, would be able to see that.
It’s you that is outright lying phil. Decriminilising cannabis is still GP policy. Before the election they will name their top ten issues so that people will know what will be the key areas on the table for post-election negotiations, and Norman expects that cannabis won’t be on that list. But that is completely different than saying it’s not on their to do list.
No they fucking don’t. They think that there are at least 10 other issues more important to be dealing with as a priority this election (actually, we don’t know, because the GP hasn’t named that list of ten yet, Norman just said he doubted cannabis would be on it). Most GP voters will agree with that (and most NZers).
There is nothing to stop GP members or MPs advancing the cause of legalising cannabis in the next electoral cycle. What are you doing to help them phil?
“phil, there’s a difference between a list of stuff you want to do and a list of stuff you think you can do given your circumstances.”
Indeed, but I’ll just point out that all Norman said was that he doubted that cannabis decriminalisation would be in the top ten. He didn’t say it wasn’t going to be worked on, and in fact reasserted that decriminalisation is still GP policy.
Even if the GP were polling higher than Labour, I doubt that they would consider decriminalising cannabis as in the top ten (they might, it’s up to the party, not Norman). There are many urgent issues out there. Will be interesting to see what the top ten are this year.
Phil, all I am asking of you is some intellectual honesty. You are misrepresenting Norman’s words to suit your own agenda. Puts you in the same bracket as Gower. That’s up to you, but when it distorts the political discussion, that makes it other people’s business.
Thanks for the link. PU seems to have manned the barricades on this one, but Norman is no more pro-TPP than he is pro-deep sea drilling. No contradiction.
Too much time spent on David Hay in the preamble though, why is he so keen to be where he’s not wanted? And there were a few points where one might validly criticise Norman’s performance; fortunately PU and Gower seem to have missed them entirely.
Yeah, I thought the focus on Hay was ott (thankfully the guy seems to have gotten the message now). Am curious as to the points you where might criticise Norman’s performance.
Chris Trotter had a think about the Te Kohanga Reo and Maori TV situations that have been in the news lately.
His comments on Maori direction seem to fit what I observe.
…the next big challenge facing Maori. Either the gains of renaissance and revolution will be captured by an increasingly authoritarian and self-protective Maori middle-class, or they will be extended to all Maori people – especially those young Maori trapped in the poverty-racked and crime-ridden ghettoes of major cities.
The Kohanga Reo scandal (itself the result of young journalists from Maori Television’s `Native Affairs’ refusing to be intimidated by the trust board’s networks of patronage and protection) is, therefore, much more than an issue for Maori to sort out on their own.
The fruits of renaissance and revolution in Aotearoa-New Zealand cannot be secured for Maori in the face of Pakeha indifference.
Looking at the Maori Party and the behaviour exhibited by many iwi following treaty payouts and the still deplorable situations of many young urban Maori, one doesn’t need to be Nostradamus to work that one out.
Film-maker Ken Loach argues in the Guardian this week that Labour is part of the problem, not the solution.
It’s worth a read and applies equally in NZ; no party’s tapping into fragmented and various social causes and protest movements. The surge of enthusiasm we saw last year in the unions and to an extent the electorate for Cunliffe was in my view expressing hope of a new left movement. My fear is that if Labour loses this election the right of the party will firmly take control, under the phony pretext that the electorate rejected the move to the left, which never eventuated as Cunliffe turned out to be business as usual.
From Loach’s piece:
‘We know that housing support goes to rich landlords, that benefits for the working poor subsidise employers who pay poverty wages. We read that benefit fraud is a tiny fraction of the overall welfare budget, far less than unclaimed benefits, and is nothing compared to the amount lost through tax dodging. But as we rail against the injustice and hypocrisy, we fail to ask one big question. Where is our political fightback? It should be led by the Labour party but therein lies the problem.
The coalition parties proclaim the importance of the market economy. So does Labour. The coalition cuts back on public enterprise and prioritises the interests of big corporations and private companies. So did the last Labour government. Whenever workers organise to defend jobs, wages or conditions, who supports them? Not Ed Miliband or other Labour leaders.’
The coalition parties proclaim the importance of the market economy. So does Labour.
And therein lies the problem. Labour refuses to accept that the free-market dogma that they saddled us with in the 1980s is the problem and thus Labour remain part of the problem and not the solution.
Good comment worth reading – here are some bits of gold from Ken Loach leftunity article.
Labour’s rhetoric may be softer than the Tories’, but its fundamental stance is limited by the same imperative: profit comes before all else. Can the Labour party be reclaimed? Or, rather, made anew into one that will represent the interests of the people?
History suggests it cannot. The high-water mark of 1945 is long gone. The many great achievements of that government have largely been dismantled, either with the collusion of Labour or directly by the party when it has been in power. The Labour left has all but disappeared, and even Tony Benn’s voice is now sadly silent. A Miliband government will not reverse any of the privatisations in the health service or elsewhere. It will not take the railways back into public ownership – despite the popularity of such a move – or even reclaim Royal Mail…….
The Labour manifesto of 1945 would be a better inspiration. It promised “a socialist party and proud of it. Its ultimate purpose … is the establishment of the socialist commonwealth, free, democratic, efficient, progressive, public-spirited, its material resources organised in the service of the … people”.
A new party must be democratic, principled and properly organised. It needs an analysis of contemporary politics with a set of immediate demands: an industrial strategy to create green jobs, a statutory living wage, a public housing programme and a cap on private rents, an end to all privatisation in the health service.
Left Unity has a conference in Manchester on Saturday (29 March). Visit http://www.leftunity.org
Here’s more evidence that National’s anti-Internet-Party blitzkrieg is partly motivated by the fear that dotcom may get more votes than the MSM suspect.
Keith Locke talks about how National’s attempts to paint the Greens as extremists backfired and contributed to them breaking the 5% threshold to get into parliament.
Perhaps the same could occur with the Internet Party.
Just wanted to acknowledge the recent deaths of two important Wellington progressives:
Today’s Dominion Post included an obituary for trade unionist, feminist and activist, Viv Walker. Viv’s agenda “was not to get more women into the board rooms of CEO’s offices; it was to get rights for the women who cleaned the boardrooms and corporate offices.” She was active in the anti-apartheid and feminist movements and it’s typical of the modesty and humility of people like Viv that she left instructions that no-one was to make her into a hero at her funeral – she wanted to be seen as ordinary.
(Brilliant but self-depreciating activists like Viv are worth a thousand Helen Clarks and other status-seeking, power-hungry upper-middle class liberal elites in my opinion. She’s one of the true heros, even if she denied as much).
In January, long-time and legendary Victoria University Political Scientist, Les Cleveland , died (aged 92). He had a highly colourful life, fought as a member of the 2NZEF in the Pacific and Italy in WWII (a keen moutaineer, he scaled Mt Blanc as part of his own post-WWII victory celebration), a poet, singer/song-writer, authority on wartime songs, press gallery journalist, photographer, short-story writer and folklorist. Cleveland was also a long-time protester, as a relatively recent Dominion Post obituary put it: “there was an unashamed, generous, subversive side to this left-wing lifetime supporter of Michael Joseph Savage’s welfare state.”
Thanks swordfish. I like this comment on Les Cleveland –
“there was an unashamed, generous, subversive side to this left-wing lifetime supporter of Michael Joseph Savage’s welfare state.”
If all Labour had had that deeply embedded then we wouldn’t have lost Savage’s commitment to people and had it replaced by devotion to The People, The Party and to maintaining the Left idea in politics and unions, rather than the Left ideal.
“We’re cautious about saying, ‘Medical marijuana laws definitely reduce homicide.’ That’s not what we’re saying,” Morris said. “The main finding is that we found no increase in crime rates resulting from medical marijuana legalization. In fact, we found some evidence of decreasing rates of some types of violent crime, namely homicide and assault.
my comment is ,just to ask you why any body like my self who has spoken out about an issue that I feel needs a public discussion and has affected my whole adult life , find my self ignored should feel ok with democracy as it is . .five years is a long time to wait and if others have been brushed aside as I have been then all is lost . there is no longer any interest in what others who want my vote have too say yet again I will throw my vote away on a minor party .
Question Why pay attention to Dotcom.
Answer Because this is a political stage and all of us merely players: –
And now he is on our side. Why can’t we accept what could be a helping hand when we are stretched. Get real Pop. And don’t waste your venom on left supporters. We may be lesser beings to yourself but we have our uses.
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 27 were:1. The Minister for Ford Rangers strikes againTransport Minister Simeon Brown was again the busiest of the Cabinet ministers this week, announcing an ...
You got a fast carAnd I want a ticket to anywhereMaybe we make a dealMaybe together we can get somewhereAny place is betterYesterday’s newsletter, Trust In Me, on the report of abuse in state care, and by religious organisations, between 1950 and 2019, coupled with the hypocrisy of Christopher Luxon ...
New Zealand is again having to reconcile conflicting pressures from its military and its trade interests. Should we join Pillar Two of AUKUS and risk compromising our markets in China? For a century after New Zealand was founded in 1840, its external security arrangements and external economics arrangements were aligned. ...
The ‘50 Shades of Green’ farmers’ protest in 2019 was heavy on climate change denial, but five years on, scepticism and criticism about the idea that pine forests can save us is growing across the board. File photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Here’s the top six news items of note in climate ...
This morning the sky was bright.The birds, in their usual joyous bliss. Nature doesn’t seem to feel the heat of what might angst humans.Their calls are clear and beautiful.Just some random thoughts:MāoriPaul Goldsmith has announced his government will roll back the judiciary’s rulings on Māori Customary Marine Title, which recognises ...
In 2003, the Court of Appeal delivered its decision in Ngati Apa v Attorney-General, ruling that Māori customary title over the foreshore and seabed had not been universally extinguished, and that the Māori Land Court could determine claims and confirm title if the facts supported it. This kicked off the ...
Earlier this week at Parliament, Labour leader Chris Hipkins was applauded for saying that the response to the final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care had to be “bigger than politics.” True, but the fine words, apologies and “we hear you” messages will soon ring ...
TL;DR: In news breaking this morning:The Ministry of Education is cutting $2 billion from its school building programme so the National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government has enough money to deliver tax cuts; The Government has quietly lowered its child poverty reduction targets to make them easier to achieve;Te Whatu Ora-Health NZ’s ...
Kia ora. These are some stories that caught our eye this week – as always, feel free to share yours in the comments. Our header image this week (via Eke Panuku) shows the planned upgrade for the Karanga Plaza Tidal Swimming Steps. The week in Greater Auckland On ...
1. What's not to love about the way the Harris campaign is turning things around?a. Nothingb. Love all of itc. God what a reliefd. Not that it will be by any means easye. All of the above 2. Documents released by the Ministry of Health show Associate Health Minister Casey ...
Trust in me in all you doHave the faith I have in youLove will see us through, if only you trust in meWhy don't you, you trust me?In a week that saw the release of the 3,000 page Abuse in Care report Christopher Luxon was being asked about Boot Camps. ...
TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers last night features co-hosts and talking about the Royal Commission Inquiry into Abuse in Carereport released this week, and with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent on a UN push to not recognise carbon offset markets and ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 26, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Transport: Simeon Brown announced$802.9 million in funding for 18 new trains on the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines, which ...
The northern expressway extension from Warkworth to Whangarei is likely to require radical changes to legislation if it is going to be built within the foreseeable future. The Government’s powers to purchase land, the planning process and current restrictions on road tolling are all going to need to be changed ...
Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedFirst they came for the doctors But I was confused by the numbers and costs So I didn't speak up Then they came for our police and nurses And I didn't think we could afford those costs anyway So I ...
Photo by Joshua J. Cotten on UnsplashWe’re back again after our mid-winter break. We’re still with the ‘new’ day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when we have our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream ...
Notes: This is a free article. Abuse in Care themes are mentioned. Video is at the bottom.BackgroundYesterday’s report into Abuse in Care revealed that at least 1 in 3 of all who went through state and faith based care were abused - often horrifically. At least, because not all survivors ...
Luxon speaks in Parliament yesterday about the Abuse in Care report. Photo: Hagen Hopkins/Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:PM Christopher Luxon said yesterday in tabling the Abuse in Carereport in Parliament he wanted to ‘do the ...
About a decade ago I worked with a bloke called Steve. He was the grizzled veteran coder, a few years older than me, who knew where the bodies were buried - code wise. Despite his best efforts to be approachable and friendly he could be kind of gruff, through to ...
Some of the recent announcements from the government have reminded us of posts we’ve written in the past. Here’s one from early 2020. There were plenty of reactions to the government’s infrastructure announcement a few weeks ago which saw them fund a bunch of big roading projects. One of ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Thursday, July 25 are:News: Why Electric Kiwi is closing to new customers - and why it matters RNZ’s Susan EdmundsScoop: Government drops ...
Hi,I felt a small wet tongue snaking through one of the holes in my Crocs. It explored my big toe, darting down one side, then the other. “He’s looking for some toe cheese,” said the woman next to me, words that still haunt me to this day.Growing up in New ...
Yesterday I happily quoted the Prime Minister without fact-checking him and sure enough, it turns out his numbers were all to hell. It’s not four kg of Royal Commission report, it’s fourteen.My friend and one-time colleague-in-comms Hazel Phillips gently alerted me to my error almost as soon as I’d hit ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Thursday, July 25, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day were:The Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquirypublished its final report yesterday.PM Christopher Luxon and The Minister responsible for ...
The Official Information Act has always been a battle between requesters seeking information, and governments seeking to control it. Information is power, so Ministers and government agencies want to manage what is released and when, for their own convenience, and legality and democracy be damned. Their most recent tactic for ...
TL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:Transport and Energy Minister Simeon Brown is accelerating plans to spend at least $10 billion through Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) to extend State Highway One as a four-lane ‘Expressway’ from Warkworth to Whangarei ...
I live my life (woo-ooh-ooh)With no control in my destinyYea-yeah, yea-yeah (woo-ooh-ooh)I can bleed when I want to bleedSo come on, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)You can bleed when you want to bleedYea-yeah, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)Everybody bleed when they want to bleedCome on and bleedGovernments face tough challenges. Selling unpopular decisions to ...
Please note:To skip directly to the- parliamentary footage in the video, scroll to 1:21 To skip to audio please click on the headphone iconon the left hand side of the screenThis video / audio section is under development. ...
Given the crackdown on wasteful government spending, it behooves me to point to a high profile example of spending by the Luxon government that looks like a big, fat waste of time and money. I’m talking about the deployment of NZDF personnel to support the US-led coalition in the Red ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:40 am on Wednesday, July 24 are:Deep Dive: Chipping away at the housing crisis, including my comments RNZ/Newsroom’s The DetailNews: Government softens on asset sales, ...
As I reported about the city centre, Auckland’s rail network is also going through a difficult and disruptive period which is rapidly approaching a culmination, this will result in a significant upgrade to the whole network. Hallelujah. Also like the city centre this is an upgrade predicated on the City ...
Today, a 4 kilogram report will be delivered to Parliament. We know this is what the report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care weighs, because our Prime Minister told us so.Some reporter had blindsided him by asking a question about something done by ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Wednesday, July 24, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Beehive:Transport Minister Simeon Brownannounced plans to use PPPs to fund, build and run a four-lane expressway between Auckland ...
NewstalkZB host Mike Hosking, who can usually be relied on to give Prime Minister Christopher Luxon an easy run, did not do so yesterday when he interviewed him about the HealthNZ deficit. Luxon is trying to use a deficit reported last year by HealthNZ as yet another example of the ...
Back in January a StatsNZ employee gave a speech at Rātana on behalf of tangata whenua in which he insulted and criticised the government. The speech clearly violated the principle of a neutral public service, and StatsNZ started an investigation. Part of that was getting an external consultant to examine ...
Renting for life: Shared ownership initiatives are unlikely to slow the slide in home ownership by much. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:A Deloittereport for Westpac has projected Aotearoa’s home-ownership rate will ...
You're broken down and tiredOf living life on a merry go roundAnd you can't find the fighterBut I see it in you so we gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsWe gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsAnd I'll rise upI'll rise like the dayI'll rise upI'll rise unafraidI'll rise upAnd I'll ...
There’s been a change in Myers Park. Down the steps from St. Kevin’s Arcade, past the grassy slopes, the children’s playground, the benches and that goat statue, there has been a transformation. The underpass for Mayoral Drive has gone from a barren, grey, concrete tunnel, to a place that thrums ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Global society may have finally slammed on the brakes for climate-warming pollution released by human fossil fuel combustion. According to the Carbon Monitor Project, the total global climate pollution released between February and May 2024 declined slightly from the amount released during the same ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Tuesday, July 23 are:Deep Dive: Penlink: where tolling rhetoric meets reality BusinessDesk-$$$’sOliver LewisScoop:Te Pūkenga plans for regional polytechs leak out ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Tuesday, July 23, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Health: Shane Reti announcedthe Board of Te Whatu Ora-Health New Zealand was being replaced with Commissioner Lester Levy ...
Health NZ warned the Government at the end of March that it was running over Budget. But the reasons it gave were very different to those offered by the Prime Minister yesterday. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon blamed the “botched merger” of the 20 District Health Boards (DHBs) to create Health ...
Long ReadKey Summary: Although National increased the health budget by $1.4 billion in May, they used an old funding model to project health system costs, and never bothered to update their pre-election numbers. They were told during the Health Select Committees earlier in the year their budget amount was deficient, ...
As a momentous, historic weekend in US politics unfolded, analysts and commentators grasped for precedents and comparisons to help explain the significance and power of the choice Joe Biden had made. The 46th president had swept the Democratic party’s primaries but just over 100 days from the election had chosen ...
TL;DR: I’m casting around for new ideas and ways of thinking about Aotearoa’s political economy to find a few solutions to our cascading and self-reinforcing housing, poverty and climate crises.Associate Professor runs an online masters degree in the economics of sustainability at Torrens University in Australia and is organising ...
The Finance and Expenditure Committee has reported back on National's Local Government (Water Services Preliminary Arrangements) Bill. The bill sets up water for privatisation, and was introduced under urgency, then rammed through select committee with no time even for local councils to make a proper submission. Naturally, national's select committee ...
Some years ago, I bought a book at Dunedin’s Regent Booksale for $1.50. As one does. Vandrad the Viking (1898), by J. Storer Clouston, is an obscure book these days – I cannot find a proper online review – but soon it was sitting on my shelf, gathering dust alongside ...
History is not on the side of the centre-left, when Democratic presidents fall behind in the polls and choose not to run for re-election. On both previous occasions in the past 75 years (Harry Truman in 1952, Lyndon Johnson in 1968) the Democrats proceeded to then lose the White House ...
This is a free articleCoverageThis morning, US President Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the Presidential race. And that is genuinely newsworthy. Thanks for your service, President Biden, and all the best to you and yours.However, the media in New Zealand, particularly the 1News nightly bulletin, has been breathlessly covering ...
A homeless person’s camp beside a blocked-off slipped damage walkway in Freeman’s Bay: we are chasing our tail on our worsening and inter-related housing, poverty and climate crises. Photo: Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy ...
What has happened to it all?Crazy, some'd sayWhere is the life that I recognise?(Gone away)But I won't cry for yesterdayThere's an ordinary worldSomehow I have to findAnd as I try to make my wayTo the ordinary worldYesterday morning began as many others - what to write about today? I began ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Monday, July 22 are:Today’s Must Read: Father and son live in a tent, and have done for four years, in a million ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Monday, July 22, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:US President Joe Biden announced via X this morning he would not stand for a second term.Multinational professional services firm ...
A listing of 32 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, July 14, 2024 thru Sat, July 20, 2024. Story of the week As reflected by preponderance of coverage, our Story of the Week is Project 2025. Until now traveling ...
This weekend, a friend pointed out someone who said they’d like to read my posts, but didn’t want to pay. And my first reaction was sympathy.I’ve already told folks that if they can’t comfortably subscribe, and would like to read, I’d be happy to offer free subscriptions. I don’t want ...
National: The Party of ‘Law and Order’ IntroductionThis weekend, the Government formally kicked off one of their flagship policy programs: a military style boot camp that New Zealand has experimented with over the past 50 years. Cartoon credit: Guy BodyIt’s very popular with the National Party’s Law and Orderimage, ...
Day one of the solo leg of my long journey home begins with my favourite sound: footfalls in an empty street. 5.00 am and it’s already light and already too warm, almost.If I can make the train that leaves Budapest later this hour I could be in Belgrade by nightfall; ...
Do you remember Y2K, the threat that hung over humanity in the closing days of the twentieth century? Horror scenarios of planes falling from the sky, electronic payments failing and ATMs refusing to dispense cash. As for your VCR following instructions and recording your favourite show - forget about it.All ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts being questioned by The Kākā’s Bernard Hickey.TL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 20 were:1. A strategy that fails Zero Carbon Act & Paris targetsThe National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government finally unveiled ...
Summary:As New Zealand loses at least 12 leaders in the public service space of health, climate, and pharmaceuticals, this month alone, directly in response to the Government’s policies and budget choices, what lies ahead may be darker than it appears. Tui examines some of those departures and draws a long ...
The Minister of Housing’s ambition is to reduce markedly the ratio of house prices to household incomes. If his strategy works it would transform the housing market, dramatically changing the prospects of housing as an investment.Leaving aside the Minister’s metaphor of ‘flooding the market’ I do not see how the ...
As previously noted, my historical fantasy piece, set in the fifth-century Mediterranean, was accepted for a Pirate Horror anthology, only for the anthology to later fall through. But in a good bit of news, it turned out that the story could indeed be re-marketed as sword and sorcery. As of ...
An employee of tobacco company Philip Morris International demonstrates a heated tobacco device. Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy on Friday, July 19 are:At a time when the Coalition Government is cutting spending on health, infrastructure, education, housing ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 8:30 am on Friday, July 19 are:Scoop: NZ First Minister Casey Costello orders 50% cut to excise tax on heated tobacco products. The minister has ...
Kia ora, it’s time for another Friday roundup, in which we pull together some of the links and stories that caught our eye this week. Feel free to add more in the comments! Our header image this week shows a foggy day in Auckland town, captured by Patrick Reynolds. ...
TL;DR : Here’s the top six items climate news for Aotearoa this week, as selected by Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent Cathrine Dyer. A discussion recorded yesterday is in the video above and the audio of that sent onto the podcast feed.The Government released its draft Emissions Reduction ...
Save some money, get rich and old, bring it back to Tobacco Road.Bring that dynamite and a crane, blow it up, start all over again.Roll up. Roll up. Or tailor made, if you prefer...Whether you’re selling ciggies, digging for gold, catching dolphins in your nets, or encouraging folks to flutter ...
Waiting In The Wings:For truly, if Trump is America’s un-assassinated Caesar, then J.D. Vance is America’s Octavian, the Republic’s youthful undertaker – and its first Emperor.DONALD TRUMP’S SELECTION of James D. Vance as his running-mate bodes ill for the American republic. A fervent supporter of Viktor Orban, the “illiberal” prime ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 19, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:The PSAannounced the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) had ruled in the PSA’s favour in its case against the Ministry ...
Te Rangi e tu nei (The sky above us) Te Papa e takoto nei (The land beneath us) Tatou katoa te hunga ora (To us all the living) Tena koutou katoa (Greetings) ...
A late change to charter school legislation will cheat educators out of fair pay and negotiating power proving charter schools are just a vehicle to make profit out of our education system. ...
In 2004 te iwi Māori rallied against the Crown’s attempt to confiscate our coastlines and moana with the Foreshore and Seabed Act. This led to the largest hīkoi of a generation and the birth of Te Pāti Māori. 20 years later, history is repeating itself. Today the government has announced ...
It has been five and a half years since the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care was established to investigate the abuse of children, young people, and vulnerable adults within state and faith-based institutions. Yesterday, the final report - Whanaketia through pain and trauma, from darkness to light ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to take action off the back of the International Court of Justice ruling on Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine. ...
On Friday the International Court of Justice reaffirmed what Palestinian’s have been telling us for decades: that the occupation and colonisation of Palestinian lands by Israel is illegal and must end immediately. They also called for reparations for Palestinian’s who have lived under Israeli occupation since it began in 1967. ...
Labour calls on the Government to act after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian Territories is illegal. ...
The 53.7 percent rise in benefit sanctions over the last year is more proof of this Government’s disdain for our communities most in need of support. ...
Aotearoa could be a country where every child grows up feeling safe, loved and with a sense of belonging in their whānau and community. But for some of our children, this is far from reality. Instead, they are trapped in a maze of intergenerational harm that they can’t escape on ...
Te Pāti Māori are calling for David Seymour to resign as Associate Health Minister in response to his call for Pharmac to ignore the Treaty of Waitangi. “This announcement is just another example of the government’s anti-Tiriti, anti-Māori agenda.” Said Co-leader and spokesperson for health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. “Seymour thinks it ...
The soaring price of renting is driving the rise of inflation in this country - with latest figures from Stats NZ showing rents are up 4.8 per cent on average while annual inflation is at 3.3 per cent. ...
National’s Emissions Reduction Plan will take New Zealand further from the economy we need to ensure the next generation has a stable climate and secure livelihoods. ...
Following consultation with named parties and thorough consideration of privacy interests, the Green Party is in a position to release the Executive Summary of the final report from the independent investigation into Darleen Tana. ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon should be asking serious questions of his Minister for Resources Shane Jones now it’s been revealed he misled the public about a dinner with mining companies that he didn’t declare and said wasn’t pre-arranged. ...
Te Pāti Māori have submitted to the Justice Select Committee against the Sentencing (Reinstating Three Strikes) Amendment Bill. The bill will further entrench racism in our justice system and fails to focus on rehabilitation. “Reinstating Three Strikes will empower a systematically racist system and exacerbate the overrepresentation of Māori in ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee is set to make a determination on the Residential Tenancies Amendment (RTA) Bill in the coming weeks. “This legislation will give landlords the power to kick our whānau out onto the street for no reason” said Housing spokesperson, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “Their solution to the housing ...
“National’s campaign was about tackling crime and the best they can do is a two-year long Ministerial Advisory Group,” Labour justice spokesperson Duncan Webb said. ...
“There are more examples of charter schools failing their students than there are success stories. The coalition Government is driving to dismantle our public school system and instead promote a privatised, competitive structure that puts profits before kids,” Jan Tinetti said. ...
“This government is choosing to deliberately mislead and withhold information, keeping our people in the dark about this government’s agenda and the future of our mokopuna,” said co-leader and spokesperson for Health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. The call comes after the demand from the Chief Ombudsman that Associate Minister of Health, Casey ...
“Today’s climate announcement by Simon Watts makes clear the National Government is simply paying lip service to meeting its climate change targets,” Megan Woods said. ...
National is choosing to make life harder for workers by taking away the rights our communities have fought hard for. Here's how they’re taking workers backwards. ...
Australia, Canada and New Zealand today issued the following statement on the need for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza and the risk of expanded conflict between Hizballah and Israel. The situation in Gaza is catastrophic. The human suffering is unacceptable. It cannot continue. We remain unequivocal in our condemnation of ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today reminded all State and faith-based institutions of their legal obligation to preserve records relevant to the safety and wellbeing of those in its care. “The Abuse in Care Inquiry’s report has found cases where records of the most vulnerable people in State and faith‑based institutions were ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government’s online safety website for children and young people has reached one million page views. “It is great to see so many young people and their families accessing the site Keep It Real Online to learn how to stay safe online, and manage ...
Tēnā tātou katoa, Ngā mihi te rangi, ngā mihi te whenua, ngā mihi ki a koutou, kia ora mai koutou. Thank you for the opportunity to be here and the invitation to speak at this 50th anniversary conference. I acknowledge all those who have gone before us and paved the ...
New Zealand’s payroll providers have successfully prepared to ensure 3.5 million individuals will, from Wednesday next week, be able to keep more of what they earn each pay, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Revenue Minister Simon Watts. “The Government's tax policy changes are legally effective from Wednesday. Delivering this tax ...
An experimental vineyard which will help futureproof the wine sector has been opened in Blenheim by Associate Regional Development Minister Mark Patterson. The covered vineyard, based at the New Zealand Wine Centre – Te Pokapū Wāina o Aotearoa, enables controlled environmental conditions. “The research that will be produced at the Experimental ...
The Coalition Government has confirmed the indicative regional breakdown of North Island Weather Event (NIWE) funding for state highway recovery projects funded through Budget 2024, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Regions in the North Island suffered extensive and devastating damage from Cyclone Gabrielle and the 2023 Auckland Anniversary Floods, and ...
Indonesia’s Foreign Minister, Retno Marsudi, will visit New Zealand next week, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “Indonesia is important to New Zealand’s security and economic interests and is our closest South East Asian neighbour,” says Mr Peters, who is currently in Laos to engage with South East Asian partners. ...
He aha te kai a te rangatira? He kōrero, he kōrero, he kōrero. The government has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the aspirations of Ngāti Maniapoto, Minister for Māori Development Tama Potaka says. “My thanks to Te Nehenehenui Trust – Ngāti Maniapoto for bringing their important kōrero to a ministerial ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has thanked outgoing Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority, Janice Fredric, for her service to the board.“I have received Ms Fredric’s resignation from the role of Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority,” Mr Brown says.“On behalf of the Government, I want to thank Ms Fredric for ...
The Government is proposing legislation to overturn a Court of Appeal decision and amend the Marine and Coastal Area Act in order to restore Parliament’s test for Customary Marine Title, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “Section 58 required an applicant group to prove they have exclusively used and occupied ...
Regulation Minister David Seymour says that opposition parties have united in bad faith, opposing what they claim are ‘dangerous changes’ to the Early Childhood Education sector, despite no changes even being proposed yet. “Issues with affordability and availability of early childhood education, and the complexity of its regulation, has led ...
After receiving more than 740 submissions in the first 20 days, Regulation Minister David Seymour is asking the Ministry for Regulation to extend engagement on the early childhood education regulation review by an extra two weeks. “The level of interest has been very high, and from the conversations I’ve been ...
The Coalition Government is investing $802.9 million into the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines as part of a funding agreement with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA), KiwiRail, and the Greater Wellington and Horizons Regional Councils to deliver more reliable services for commuters in the lower North Island, Transport Minister Simeon ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced his intention to appoint a Crown Manager to both Hawke’s Bay Regional and Wairoa District Councils to speed up the delivery of flood protection work in Wairoa."Recent severe weather events in Wairoa this year, combined with damage from Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023 have ...
Mr Speaker, this is a day that many New Zealanders who were abused in State care never thought would come. It’s the day that this Parliament accepts, with deep sorrow and regret, the Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care. At the heart of this report are the ...
For the first time, the Government is formally acknowledging some children and young people at Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital experienced torture. The final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care “Whanaketia – through pain and trauma, from darkness to light,” was tabled in Parliament ...
The Government has acknowledged the nearly 2,400 courageous survivors who shared their experiences during the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State and Faith-Based Care. The final report from the largest and most complex public inquiry ever held in New Zealand, the Royal Commission Inquiry “Whanaketia – through ...
With a week to go before hard-working New Zealanders see personal income tax relief for the first time in fourteen years, 513,000 people have used the Budget tax calculator to see how much they will benefit, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “Tax relief is long overdue. From next Wednesday, personal income ...
Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden says a bill that has passed its first reading will improve parental leave settings and give non-biological parents more flexibility as primary carer for their child. The Regulatory Systems Amendment Bill (No3), passed its first reading this morning. “It includes a change ...
Two Bills designed to improve regulation and make it easier to do business have passed their first reading in Parliament, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. The Regulatory Systems (Economic Development) Amendment Bill and Regulatory Systems (Immigration and Workforce) Amendment Bill make key changes to legislation administered by the Ministry ...
New legislation paves the way for greater competition in sectors such as banking and electricity, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says. “Competitive markets boost productivity, create employment opportunities and lift living standards. To support competition, we need good quality regulation but, unfortunately, a recent OECD report ranked New ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says lotteries for charitable purposes, such as those run by the Heart Foundation, Coastguard NZ, and local hospices, will soon be allowed to operate online permanently. “Under current laws, these fundraising lotteries are only allowed to operate online until October 2024, after which ...
The Coalition Government is accelerating work on the new four-lane expressway between Auckland and Whangārei as part of its Roads of National Significance programme, with an accelerated delivery model to deliver this project faster and more efficiently, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “For too long, the lack of resilient transport connections ...
Sir Don McKinnon will travel to Viet Nam this week as a Special Envoy of the Government, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “It is important that the Government give due recognition to the significant contributions that General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong made to New Zealand-Viet Nam relations,” Mr ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says newly appointed Commissioner, Grant Illingworth KC, will help deliver the report for the first phase of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into COVID-19 Lessons, due on 28 November 2024. “I am pleased to announce that Mr Illingworth will commence his appointment as ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters travels to Laos this week to participate in a series of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-led Ministerial meetings in Vientiane. “ASEAN plays an important role in supporting a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific,” Mr Peters says. “This will be our third visit to ...
Construction of a new mental health facility at Te Nikau Grey Hospital in Greymouth is today one step closer, Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey says. “This $27 million facility shows this Government is delivering on its promise to boost mental health care and improve front line services,” Mr Doocey says. ...
New Zealand is committing nearly $50 million to a package supporting sustainable Pacific fisheries development over the next four years, Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones announced today. “This support consisting of a range of initiatives demonstrates New Zealand’s commitment to assisting our Pacific partners ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour says proposed changes to the Education and Training Amendment Bill will ensure charter schools have more flexibility to negotiate employment agreements and are equipped with the right teaching resources. “Cabinet has agreed to progress an amendment which means unions will not be able to initiate ...
In response to serious concerns around oversight, overspend and a significant deterioration in financial outlook, the Board of Health New Zealand will be replaced with a Commissioner, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti announced today. “The previous government’s botched health reforms have created significant financial challenges at Health NZ that, without ...
Minister for Space and Science, Innovation and Technology Judith Collins will travel to Adelaide tomorrow for space and science engagements, including speaking at the Australian Space Forum. While there she will also have meetings and visits with a focus on space, biotechnology and innovation. “New Zealand has a thriving space ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts will travel to China on Saturday to attend the Ministerial on Climate Action meeting held in Wuhan. “Attending the Ministerial on Climate Action is an opportunity to advocate for New Zealand climate priorities and engage with our key partners on climate action,” Mr Watts says. ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is travelling to the Solomon Islands tomorrow for meetings with his counterparts from around the Pacific supporting collective management of the region’s fisheries. The 23rd Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Committee and the 5th Regional Fisheries Ministers’ Meeting in Honiara from 23 to 26 July ...
The Government today launched the Military Style Academy Pilot at Te Au rere a te Tonga Youth Justice residence in Palmerston North, an important part of the Government’s plan to crackdown on youth crime and getting youth offenders back on track, Minister for Children, Karen Chhour said today. “On the ...
The Government has welcomed news the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has begun work to replace nine priority bridges across the country to ensure our state highway network remains resilient, reliable, and efficient for road users, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“Increasing productivity and economic growth is a key priority for the ...
Acting Prime Minister David Seymour has been in contact throughout the evening with senior officials who have coordinated a whole of government response to the global IT outage and can provide an update. The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet has designated the National Emergency Management Agency as the ...
New Zealand and Japan will continue to step up their shared engagement with the Pacific, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “New Zealand and Japan have a strong, shared interest in a free, open and stable Pacific Islands region,” Mr Peters says. “We are pleased to be finding more ways ...
New developments in the heart of North Island forestry country will reinvigorate their communities and boost economic development, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones visited Kaingaroa and Kawerau in Bay of Plenty today to open a landmark community centre in the former and a new connecting road in ...
President Adeang, fellow Ministers, honourable Diet Member Horii, Ambassadors, distinguished guests. Minasama, konnichiwa, and good afternoon, everyone. Distinguished guests, it’s a pleasure to be here with you today to talk about New Zealand’s foreign policy reset, the reasons for it, the values that underpin it, and how it ...
Last summer when Matairangi burned, Ginny and Tom stood at the window of their lounge, watching kākā shoot skyward from the burning trees. From the distance, they looked to Ginny like pages torn from books and thrown into a bonfire. It was Tom, voice tight, who told her it was ...
Opinion: The Canadian short story writer Alice Munro – winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2013 – died in May at the age of 92. Her work was about “the damage people inflict on one another in the name of love”, Deborah Treisman wrote in the New Yorker. ...
This month marks two years since the most powerful telescope ever built sent its first pictures back to earth. From its lofty vantage point, beyond the moon in orbit around the sun, the James Webb Space Telescope was tuned to observe the first stars and galaxies being born soon after ...
Comment: After Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ preview several weeks ago, I had some optimism about the Government’s emissions reduction plan. Now I’ve read the discussion document, that hope has been dashed. How can the Government propose a plan that wants to take New Zealand taxpayers’ hard-earned money, and spend ...
Christopher Luxon: hurdles The little man from National jumps hurdles in his sleep. He’s quite good at it in his dreams and even though the reality doesn’t quite match up you have to give him credit for getting up every morning and crashing into the very first hurdle of the ...
Comment: It was a good two hours into the conversation when Tyrone Marks raised the most basic of questions when I first spoke to him in 2017. “They didn’t explain the things they did to me. They never told me why. And they still haven’t. There’s no explanation for it. ...
Madeleine Chapman rounds out Death Week on The Spinoff with a final recommendation. You can read all of our Death Week coverage here. Nothing forces you to reflect on your life and relationships quite like proximity to death. For those whose nearest and dearest have died, there are reasonably obvious ...
Whitney Greene takes us through her life in television, including the TV character she’d like to plan a funeral for and her cow lung catastrophe on The Traitors NZ. “If the phone rings, I have to answer it,” Whitney Greene from The Traitors NZ warns as we begin our My ...
Maddie Ballard reviews the debut essay collection of Pōneke writer Flora Feltham.In ‘The Raw Material’, the longest essay in Flora Feltham’s dazzling debut collection, the author heads out for a run after hours of weaving and sees the world turn to textile. “Pounding along the Parade, I saw the ...
Andy Christiansen, one half of the experimental rock-pop duo TRiPS, shares the tunes inspiring the band’s perfect weekend and new release. “Good speakers, good food, good music, no distractions”: that’s all you need to enjoy the psychedelic stylings of TRiPS, a new band formed by Fly My Pretties’ Barnaby Weir ...
Celebrating our quadrennial opportunity to become experts in a bunch of sports we never normally watch.The games of the XXXIII Olympiad are upon us. Paris will host this year’s showcase of sporting and athletic prowess, which means some late-night and early-morning viewing for us in Aotearoa.But what sports ...
The photograph is striking and beautiful, but also disturbing – a reminder that my love for John was often entangled in shame.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.In the spring of 1980, in Dunedin, shortly before his death, someone took a photograph ...
Get to know Babushka, our latest Dog of the Month. This feature was offered as a reward during our What’s Eating Aotearoa PledgeMe campaign. Thank you to Babu’s humans, Jo and Isabel, for their support. Dog name: Babushka (Babu for short) Age: 2Breed: Border Collie X poodleIf rescued, ...
Pacific Media Watch A Lebanese photojournalist who was severely wounded during an Israeli air strike in south Lebanon carried the Olympic torch in Paris this week in honour of her peers who have been wounded and killed in the field — especially in Gaza and Lebanon. Christina Assi of Agence ...
The first report in a five-part web series focused on the 15th Triennial Conference of Pacific Women taking place in the Marshall Islands this week.SPECIAL REPORT:By Netani Rika in Majuro Women continue to fight for justice 70 years after the first nuclear tests by the United States caused ...
Christopher Luxon has joined with Australia and Canada's leaders in voicing support for US President Joe Biden's ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The 2022 election brought the “teal wave” into parliament. The next election will test whether teals, who occupy what were Liberal seats, and other independents can maintain their momentum. Joining us on the Podcast ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Musgrave, Senior lecturer in Pharmacology, University of Adelaide Pixavri/Shutterstock A major Federal Court class action has been dismissed this week after Justice Michael Lee ruled there was not enough evidence to prove the weedkiller Roundup causes cancer. Plaintiff Kelvin ...
In The Week in Politics: politicians have to decide what to do about child abuse, Health NZ is booked in for major surgery and Darleen Tana returns. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Corbould, Associate Professor, Contemporary Histories Research Group, Deakin University Mainstream media are surprisingly muted at the prospect of the world’s most powerful nation being led for the first time by a woman – specifically a woman of colour, Vice President Kamala ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rebecca Bennett, PhD Student, Associate Research Fellow, Deakin University Last week, a drone delivery company called Wing (owned by Google’s parent company, Alphabet) started operating in Melbourne. Some 250,000 residents in parts of the city’s eastern suburbs can now order food from ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonathan Foo, Lecturer, Physiotherapy, Monash University pikselstock/Shutterstock In the next 40 years in Australia, it’s predicted the number of Australians aged 65 and over will more than double, while the number of people aged 85 and over will more than triple. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katrina Grant, Research Associate, Power Institute for Arts and Visual Culture, University of Sydney Jonas Åkerström’s 1790 work, Session of the Accademia dell’Arcadia on August 17 1788.Nationalmuseum/Cecilia Heisser Ever wondered whether you’d have a better chance at winning an Olympic gold ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexandra Jones, Program Lead, Food Governance, George Institute for Global Health wavebreakmedia/Shutterstock On Thursday, Australian and New Zealand food ministers at state, federal and national levels met to thrash out what’s next for health star ratings on packaged foods. Now, after ...
The Abuse in Care report found many Pacific survivors lost their connections to their culture and language, resulting in trauma that has been carried from generation to generation. ...
In the regulatory review, ECC intends to suggest that ERO focus on curriculum delivery reviews rather than the Ministry, because it’s not efficient or effective to have two agencies with radically different approaches climbing over each other. ...
Te Rūnanga Nui o Ngā Kura Kaupapa Māori invites the current government to work in partnership with them to develop a pathway forward, including the development of a parallel pathway and meaningful policy and strategy for Kura Kaupapa Māori ...
If you haven’t started watching yet, Tara Ward begs you to reconsider. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. In the world of New Zealand reality television, we have many gems in our crown. There’s the delicious second season of the Celebrity Treasure ...
A new poem by Fiona Kidman. The clothes of the dead I did not keep my mother’s furry red beret for long nor the stringy scarves that adorned the necks of my aunts, although I have kept tag ends of gold, the rings and trinkets they wore, the brooches no ...
The government’s announcement that it will re-open the foreshore and seabed controversy by changing the rules on recognising centuries-old Māori customary title for a third time goes against the rule of law and New Zealand values,” Mr Tipa says. ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Lioness by Emily Perkins (Bloomsbury, $25) Roarrrr! Perkins’ brilliant, award-winning, Marian-Keyes anointed, darkly funny, long ...
The 2004 Act vested ownership of the foreshore and seabed in the Crown, extinguishing any Māori claims to ownership and causing widespread outrage and protests among Māori communities. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Antje Deckert, Associate Professor (Criminology), Auckland University of Technology Getty Images Despite the connection between institutional harm and gang membership made clear in this week’s mammoth royal commission abuse-in care report, the government seems unlikely to soften its “get tough on ...
From Lewis Clareburt in the swimming to the start of the rowing – the first seven days of Paris 2024 promise to be big for New Zealand. There are few events that bring the country together quite like an Olympic Games. Nothing quite matches the excitement of getting up in ...
Groundbreaking local science just showed up in the most surprising of places: the season finale of The Kardashians. In the season five finale of The Kardashians last night, several members of the family gathered together in one of their signature empty, cream-coloured rooms to hear test results that had been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amin Saikal, Emeritus professor of Middle Eastern and Central Asian Studies, Australian National University The Middle East is on the brink of a possibly devastating regional war, with hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah reaching an extremely dangerous level. Washington has engaged in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laura Elizabeth Eades, Rheumatologist, Monash University Lupus is an inflammatory autoimmune illness, where the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks itself. Lupus can affect virtually any part of the body, although it most commonly affects the skin, joints and kidneys. The symptoms ...
A law firm that specialises in working with survivors of abuse in State care is disappointed that the Government fails to recognise that its boot camps can be directly compared to previous boot camps from the 1990s and 2000s. ...
Dying is a natural part of life, like updating your Wof or seeing your hairdresser, but without the word-of-mouth recs that help guarantee a good service. What if we changed that? Dying Reviews received by The Spinoff have had the names of organisations redacted while Hospice NZ collects further data. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonti Horner, Professor (Astrophysics), University of Southern Queensland Mike Lewinski/Flickr, CC BY On any clear night, if you gaze skywards long enough, chances are you’ll see a meteor streaking through the sky. Some nights, however, are better than others. At ...
Despite having no bars or other designated spaces for lesbians, Auckland boasts a small but mighty lesbian museum. So how did it get here? The past 18 months has brought increasing hostility towards the queer community across Aotearoa. Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull’s anti-trans rally in Tamaki Makaurau last March led to a ...
Poneke Antifascist Coalition has invited Wellingtonians to stand in solidarity with the Kanak people at 12pm today outside the French Embassy in Wellington. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Layton, Visiting Fellow, Strategic Studies, Griffith University Drones are the signature technology of the Ukraine war. A few miniature aircraft designs were used in the war’s early days, but an incredible array of drones have now evolved. There are different types, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Slee, Associate Professor, Clinical Academic Neurologist, Flinders University Francisco Gonzelez/Unsplash Migraine is many things, but one thing it’s not is “just a headache”. “Migraine” comes from the Greek word “hemicrania”, referring to the common experience of migraine being predominantly ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lee White, Senior Lecturer and Horizon Fellow, School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Sydney Australia was slow to introduce minimum building standards for energy efficiency. The Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme (NatHERS) only came into force in 2003. Older homes ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Steven Sherwood, Professor of Atmospheric Sciences, Climate Change Research Centre, UNSW Sydney The past century of human-induced warming has increased rainfall variability over 75% of the Earth’s land area – particularly over Australia, Europe and eastern North America, new research shows. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tony Heynen, Program Coordinator, Sustainable Energy, The University of Queensland A temporary stadium in the Champ-de-Mars, ParisEkaterina Pokrovsky/Shutterstock As Paris prepares to host the Olympic and Paralympic Games, the sustainability of the event is coming under scrutiny. The organisers have promoted ...
A night of karaoke and community in a pub that feels like a memory. You’d barely even notice it, unless you knew to look. Tucked away behind a liquor store on busy Constable Street is the capital’s last great pub. Newtown Sports Bar is an emblem of the pub culture ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Wright, Professor in Marine Geology, University of Canterbury Louise Corcoran/Getty Images The decline in the number of doctoral candidates at New Zealand universities is a worrying sign for the country’s effort to build a knowledge-based economy. Aotearoa New Zealand’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laurie Berg, Associate Professor, University of Technology Sydney defotoberg/Shutterstock Migrant worker exploitation is entrenched in workplaces across Australia. Tragically, a deep fear of immigration consequences means most unlawful employer conduct goes unreported. On Wednesday, however, the government officially launched a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Vaughan Cruickshank, Senior Lecturer in Health and Physical Education, University of Tasmania Paris is about to host its third summer Olympics. While we don’t yet know what the legacy of this year’s games will be, let’s take the opportunity to reflect on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hugh Breakey, Deputy Director, Institute for Ethics, Governance & Law, Griffith University In the wake of the assassination attempt on former US President Donald Trump, there were calls from bothsides of US politics, as well as internationally, to reduce the brutal, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Keith Rathbone, Senior Lecturer, Modern European History and Sports History, Macquarie University Two high-profile assaults on Australians in Paris have raised concerns about security ahead of the Olympic Games. On Saturday evening, a young woman was allegedly sexually assaulted by a ...
Dying is inevitable and, so it seems, is it costing a lot, writes Stewart Sowman-Lund in today’s extract from The Bulletin. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here.The cost of dying ...
The government took Joyce Harris's first baby and sent her off to a girls' home. Half a century on - and out of oceans of hurt - it asked her to be a mother figure. ...
It’s the deadliest fictional town in the country, but which death has been the most bonkers? Alex Casey looks back at 10 seasons of The Brokenwood Mysteries to find out. Warning: The following ranking story contains famous New Zealand actors appearing to be dead (not alive). The Spinoff has been ...
Water cremation is the biggest thing to happen to the death industry in the last 100 years. Alex Casey meets the people trying to bring it to Aotearoa. Through a set of mirrored doors down the industrial end of Christchurch’s St Asaph Street, death is getting a new lease on ...
NONFICTION 1 The Last Secret Agent by Pippa Latour & Jude Dobson (Allen & Unwin, $37.99) 2 The Life of Dai by Dai Henwood and Jaquie Brown (HarperCollins, $39.99) 3 A Life Less Punishing by Matt Heath (Allen & Unwin, $37.99) 4 Waitohu by Hinemoa Elder (Penguin Random House, $35) ...
A positive, inspirational report to start the day, surprisingly the lead story on Stuff at the moment at least.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/9881861/Driven-by-fight-for-justice
And best wishes to all of those able to make it to the various demonstrations happening throughout the country today.
EDIT – Snap with North at 2!
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/9881861/Driven-by-fight-for-justice
Beautiful !
US human rights high ground under pressure
And the gall of the USA to condemn the Russian invasion of Crimea without loss of life after USA invaded Iraq with the loss of 100 X thousands of innocent life. The cheek of it!
Turkey initiates Youtube ban to constrain inconvenient evidence.
http://rt.com/news/turkey-syria-phone-leak-861/
Turkey a NATO member seems to be implicated in a Wag the dog experiment.
If you actually bothered to connect to the real world, the Ukrainian death toll is currently at 75 and will no doubt be vast if Russia and Ukraine go to war. I see no value in jumping around and pointing fingers at the sins of the US when a possibly even worse bloodbath is about to occur
Yes, what’s a little torture between virtue ethicists. They’re our friends! They only torture bad guys, except for when they get the wrong guy, but you can hardly blame them for making a mistake! Everyone makes mistakes.
well don’t do the crime…geezzz
Today’s sick offering in Stuff illustrates why Duncan Garner’s work needs to be digested with a clothes-pegged nose. Today he starts with a story of a glazier who couldn’t obtain a building apprenticeship, while Fletcher Construction and fellow travelers are importing workers for the Christchurch rebuild. He then blows on the old dog-whistle, implying that the young unemployed are feckless dole bludgerswho should to be forced to work on the Christchurch building sites. Since Fletchers and others are the recipients of massive corporate welfare, they should be forced to provide employment and trade training opportunities for our youth. Instead, they are maximising on the unique profit-making situation the Government has gifted them by bringing in overseas navvies.
Seemingly, Garner’s brain cells are more idle than the hordes of lazy dole bludgers that exist more in his imagination than reality.
As PG seems to be here on TS a lot lately, I thought I would check out Politicheck’s website and their Twitter account to see what was happening.
There seems to be nothing new on the website since the announcement of staff appointments on March 10. Likewise, the latest entry on their twitter account was on March 15.
Dead in the water?
Waiting, waiting – 1,2,3,……
If there was ever any chance that Politicheck would succeed, it ended with the appointment of Pete George.
pete gorge has singlehandedly turned politichek into an antipodean marie celeste..
..”..unmanned and apparently abandoned..”
..heh..!
Peter Cook channels Fuctcheck’s Pete George (finest description of PG ever at 4.20): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IH0lraX7Hmk
“Is that a fact?”
rofl. Cheers TRP.
Two days, two articles, two different media outlets admitting that they know National use Slater/Farrar to smear and dissemble.
Both media outlets admit they are still happy to run those lines without attribution to who actually provides the source material.
Drinnan in The Herald & Watkin’s at Fairfax.
All these examples of dirty tricks, whisper campaigns and character assassination go by without comment. Our media are captured, lazy and unable to function properly.
Can’t forget the new front in the Nats media machine Gossip.
Good comment, – worth putting in a quick post, if you don’t mind, andy?
something ‘funny’ has also happened to john armstrong over the last couple of days..
..after earlier in the week penning one of the few intelligent/considered looks at the possible benefits for both mana party and internet party from forming an alliance-lite umbrella party to fight the election..
..today he is right/write on message – with the official-line..
..and has done a piece that totally pisses all over/rips up what he wrote 48hrs earlier…
..and is basically a vomit all over dotcom and all he stands for..
..and he laughs hysterically at any possibility of any electoral-success..
..on so many levels/ways..w.t.f. happened..?
..and which john armstrong should we give any credence to..?
..if any..?
Barking mad the lot of them, the dogs of National’s disinformation service, Armstrong, Trevett, O’Sullivan showing spasms of the fear that they echo on behalf of the 9th floor of the Beehive,
Does Armstrong have info from someone that us mere peasants are not privy to, in this morning’s grand gush of vitriol He does not mince words about the chances of DotCom being extradited,
”When he is extradited” is Armstrong’s ‘line’ pointing the finger at the Judiciary as having already decided the fate of DotCom,
What causes Armstrong to be so certain about the outcome, has He had word, along with the order to bark long and loud in an attempt to disparage DotCom that ‘the system’ has agreed to close ranks to rid the country of this interloper onto the political playing field???,
To pen such words as ”when He is extradited” with regards to DotCom implies certainty of knowledge from Armstrong, within such an admission is one of broader concern which suggests, far from the common belief, that the Judiciary is as tainted by the same open bias that appears to be the driving force behind the scribblings of Armstrong and the other dogs of the National Party disinformation service…
”when He is extradited”
Can’t see that bit in Armstrong’s article.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=11228272
Armstrong does makes some valid points. Particularly relevant are those about would be voters for the ip not really being the mana demographic, friend of the poor/left which is quite unbelievable given his past form, which does make many think ‘wool over eyes’, and of course the whole paragraph about the real motive behind the party launch – To keep .com from being extradited.
The Alien, reading your comment i just about had a little ‘barking fit’ of my own, ”When He is extradited” is definitely what i read this morning,
Just about makes me want to go out and find the print edition of the Herald(National Party disinformation service),
Could John have been awoken from His slumbers at his computer terminal by the editorial staff telling Him to edit that piece because they have read the inference that i make about the words ”when He is extradited”,
While i cannot ‘swear’ that what i read this morning was what i read my opinion is the piece has suffered a speedy ‘edit’, to subtly change the blunt statement ”when He is extradited” to something a little more elongated but in essence saying exactly the same thing, Paragraph Six says this:
–”And that it will not fold the moment He and the Party’s main source of income move offshore through being extradited to the United States” unquote John Armstrong
There is no IF evident there,so it is still an event that Armstrong ‘sees’ as a given although as exhibited by the part of Paragraph Six i reproduce above there is an obvious softening from the blunt ”when he is extradited’ that i read this morning…
I don’t doubt what you read as on-line content is subject to change, just saying I didn’t see it in the article I linked to, speaking of which, I prefer this quote.
“Dotcom’s purpose in setting up the Internet Party is solely to make it a bottom-line of any post-election talks that whoever is Minister of Justice quash any court ruling which would force his extradition. Such a bottom-line would be preposterous and would amount to Dotcom’s party being the sickest joke played on New Zealand voters.”
i think Armstrong has something wrong with His memory, ”National will not be raising GST” widely broadcast as coming out of the mouth of Slippery the Prime Minister in 2008 prior to the election was a far sicker joke than a slight corruption of the system that Armstrong points to when that system already corrupted itself by allowing DotCom and any number of other’s who could be said to have characters far from unblemished into the country based upon their having ‘money’…
The nats letting weirdo colin and who ever is leading act at the moment in to parliament rivals the .com party as far as sick jokes go, but sadly, that’s what politics seems has come to in it’s race to the bottom.
I’m well aware your not fond of Kim Allen, but a question?
Do you think what Kim allegedly does is a criminal matter or a civil matter.
Because all I see is a civil matter.
If the Hollywood studios can’t sort this civil matter out without having to call in our very own ‘Keystone cops’ The New Zealand Police force, that by the way was seemingly handed over to them by a subservient Government then Hollywood have real problems.
And to take this a bit farther and I’m just day dreaming a bit now, but you really have to wonder if Key in one of his big headed moments, with a nose full of coke said, “leave it to me boys I can save you a fortune in Lawyers fees, I’ll just have the GCSB and the NZ Police sort it out.”
Not being a lawyer I wouldn’t have a clue, it’ll be a guess at best.
For the copyright infringements I’ll plump for criminal, citing Napster as a precedent, and the money laundering, if true, likewise.
I’m no Lawyer either but I have a lot of faith in the system that we have and basically it works like this, when something new comes to light, it will be tested in law at some stage, I think this is a good system, sure there will be some winners and losers initially at times and some people will make a fortune if forward thinking, but lets take a breath and look at the alternative, which is every new idea has to be tested in law before we have any idea what will happen when it’s used in the real world, which is basically impossible, the genie is out of the bottle.
So basically Napster was a president in Law and since then the music industry has used that to protect and fight for their intellectual/property rights and the same applies here, yet in this case they tried to go down the criminal path from the beginning, when it really was only a civil matter, sure the US have thrown in money laundering and racketeering with the copyright infringement but really it’s about copyright infringement first and the rest is up to the tax department, lets not forget copyright infringement goes on every day in just about every house in this country.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A&M_Records,_Inc._v._Napster,_Inc.
This was nothing more than New Zealand bending over and taking one in the Ass for Uncle Sams Hollywood executives.
As I understand it the presiding judge looks at the information presented for the extradition hearing by both parties, and makes a decision based solely on that information to make a decision, which is whether there is a case to answer, or not.
And that is all.
There is no jury or anything else – this is in accordance with the Extradition Act.
No you are quite wrong. Most of the decision is made by the judge and much of it is about the applicability of the extradition application to laws in NZ. Since the laws he is charged under in the US aren’t appliciable here, I would say it is a travesty.
Rather than being a lazy papa, raise your standard and read the MFAT summary. It will make you look less of a stupid limp dick…
@Karol: Help yourself, I am not a writer so please feel free to expand. I am quite dejected about the poor state of our political media.
The Standard is suggested to be the leftwing counterpart to Whaleoil in the Watkins piece. Ugh.
The thing about Whaleoil is that it takes the heat off of David Farrar/KiwiBlog/Curia who I think is more destructive than Cameron Slater.
@ geoff..re slater/farrar comment..
..+ 1..
this is a really well-written piece of longform-journalism..
..it us a total delight..actually..(lyn of tawa prounciay-tion of ‘is’..)
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/mar/28/dave-eggers-starship-mohegan-sun-casino-connecticut
cool guy goes to mock – a 70’s revival-band..and stays to praise…
Checked out the internet party app last this morning. The list of permissions is a bit different to most.
Allow to send messages, record audio, take pictures stand out. Seems unnecessary but I don’t really know how these things work all my other apps dont allow these.
Can anyone offer a more qualified opinion?
What’s going on here?
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/9877103/Taxpayers-Union-slags-Americas-Cup-spend
‘Taxpayers’ union (David Farrar + Jordan Williams) having a go at Steven Joyce.
Odd.
Explanation?
they support collins against joyce in the national party succession-battle..
..they see him as ‘wet’ vs collins’ ‘dry’..
..and this pushes that ‘wet’-meme..
..and is a dogwhistle to the party members/party-base..
..that could well be a component of that ‘explanation’..
They’re attacking a fairly frivolous, comparatively-small amount of spending. It allows them to say ‘look, we attack National government spending too!’ and thus ‘prove’ that they’re independent and unbiased. This comes in handy when they’re later asked why they never criticise the huge wastefulness of the costs of flogging our assets, or the massive amount spent by Treasury on consultants, etc.
There is nothing odd about it at all. I would not be providing financial support to the Taxpayers Union if it was partisan. It is not aligned with any political party:
“The Taxpayers’ Union is 100 per cent politically independent. We are not affiliated with any political party and will never become a political party. ”
http://taxpayers.org.nz/pages/q-a
Its objective is to promote fiscal responsibility. Indirectly it also promotes policies that protect the poor. It is the poor who get screwed by poor government.
So – I am surprised that you are surprised.
SSLands you wouldn’t be providing financial support to the Taxpayer’s Union if you were not a certifiable idiot of the worst kind…
membership/donating-member numbers..?
..and who are the selected wealthy rightwingers who are paying for this..?
..funding what is essentially a rightwing attack-machine..?
..like i believe the bullshit williams spouts..
It is the poor who get screwed by poor government.
Good to know you think National are a poor government.
Let’s work together to get rid of them!
Any movie makers out there?
(Serious ones, that is: not that bearded fat creep in Wellington)
Plot idea: 97 per cent of the world’s scientists contrive an environmental crisis, but are exposed by a plucky band of billionaires and oil companies.
http://members5.boardhost.com/medialens/msg/1395825903.html
Morrissey………you’re too much. First good belly laugh of the day for me !
Moving on to other matters. Russel Norman on The Nation with Potty G.
“Have you ever smoked a joint ?” “Yes”.
That’s it. A simple, no bullshit “Yes”.
No no no hang on……..it was Gower doing the asking.
Watching it the words “Have you……you prick ?” immediately sprang to my mind. Not Russel Norman though. Perfectly done. More impressive every day that man.
My answer – “Nah……Morrissey, legally as yet, gives me all the giggles I need”.
did you not think it more of note that he said that ending pot-prohibition would not be on their/his list of priorities..?
..and doesn’t that so much more bring into focus tureis’ criminal inaction on that medical marijuana bill..?
..eh..?..
..and take note of this..
..should the internet party..
..(on personal-freedom/evidence-based/harm-reduction grounds..what they claim are the rationales underpinning all their policies..so..?..)
..should they come out with a sane/rational legalise/regulate/tax cannabis policy..
..they will hoover up many votes..
..and not a few of those votes will be lost to the greens..
..’cos that was their mandate..and they have not delivered to those who first got them into parliament..(their ingratitude has been epic..)..
..and norman now confirming that no..they won’t be doing anything about prohibition..
..that leaves a huge vacuum/opportunity..
..one that i am sure dotcom and his advisers/policy-makers will also see..
..and..they would be mad not to really..
..and it wd hardly be radical for the internet party to go hard on pot..
..as this link shows..just a day or so ago..the southern state in america deemed to be the most conservative state in america…
..unanimously passed what they are calling ‘cathys’ law’..authorising serious funding for research into the seizure-prevention qualities in cannabis..
..we are told both sides of the house chanted in unison:..’pass the law..!..pass the law..!’
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/27/conservative-south-states-ready-to-break-the-marijuana-taboo_n_5006454.html
..and this in the most conservative state in america..
..and meanwhile here in nz…?
..our green party hasn’t even got in anywhere on their to-do list..
..what is wrong with that picture..?
..it may be time for mr dotcom to step up to the bowl..
..and won’t a sane/rational pot-policy get that disenchanted youth motivated enough to go and vote..?
..eh..?
..it also puzzles me that the green party seems unable to see/understand this political-fact..
..i guess they are blinded by those bmw-badges..
..by their personal ambitions..
..how can this not be the case..
..and tho’ that rightwing green twerp who was interviewed..
..is/was wrong on so many levels..
..(especially in his craven self-serving during his time as candidate in epsom..)
..one thing he said cannot be contradicted..
..that is the insane pattern of the green party studiously ignoring where one third of the voters lie..
..from fitzsimons’ always just turning right at the airport exit..
..and driving to the coromandal..and was never seen in auckland..
..to former aucklanders norman and turei now in wellington and dunedin respectively..
..auckland is still clearly suffering from that benign neglect..
..one of them should be based in auckland..
..and part of their job being seen..
..at all ak has to offer each and every weekend..
..and their neglect is mirrored in their support here in ak..
..where their cote is much lower than in the rest of the country..
..the green party..putting the ‘belt’ in beltway..
..eh..?
Good response from Hone and Mana
http://mana.net.nz/2014/03/no-prestige-in-trying-to-hide-poverty/
Worth reading the whole press release imo
Good on yer Hone.
Way to call it Hone, ‘the Iwi Leaders’ look way out of line barking their objections to legitimate protest,
i suppose having the likes of Parata and Slippery the Prime Minister paying to fly them here and there along with the tongue bath of the major ‘Slurps’ dished out their way for the ongoing support of the current regime must make them feel ‘big’,
Its sad to see ‘the leaders’ take the side of the Government while ignoring the plight of the worst off of their people, but,it’s happened befor and i dare say will happen again…
I wouldn’t go so far as to call this a happy ending, more a barely adequate resolution:
http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/297047/shackle-buy-better-court-cull
Still no answers as to what happened to the other shackles that were there when these were stolen. Plus, with this precedent; it now seems to be open season on any historical artifact in Dunedin that can be swiped with 3 hacksaw blades or less.
They would appear to have rusted away. The obvious deteriation was the reason McCormack nicked them in the first place. Those caves should be made into a museum of this shameful and neglected episode of NZ history.
I’m not convinced by the “rusted away” story – though do recall it from the initial auction article. I strongly suspect the remnants of those shackles are in private hands (perhaps those that looted them, or maybe not even still in the country). Toitu (the Otago settlers museum) was supposed to be in charge of the artifact investigation. Perhaps their examination of the historical site will yield further information?
Reading between the lines, I’d say it was likely to be McCormack’s “late brother” who wanted to hold onto the things. It certainly seems likely that they were shown to others in the 40-odd years since since they were taken (and reconnected with a few links of train chain). But i doubt that an altruistic urge to arrest the artifact’s deterioration was the reason for them sawing their way into a locked cave.
I am only citing the answers they gave to the media, I do not claim to be able to do Vulcan mind melds.
russel norman is currently doing serious damage to the green vote/support..
..on the nation..
..they will support deep-sea drilling..
..changing cannabis laws is not a priority..
..they will suppport fracking..
..they will vote to support a tpp-deal..
..what..the..fuck..???..!!!!
..they will be a total sellout..to everything that matters to those whose shoulders they stand on
..and all just for fucken ministerial roles…
..fucken hell..!
..eh..?
..why the fuck would anyone vote for them..?
Re the TPPA – how does what you have written above reconcile with this
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151946683671372&set=a.489359751371.266952.10779081371&type=1&theater
it totally contradicts it marty…
..and i guess i wd lean to the words out of normans’ mouth under questioning..
..that i just heard..
..that he may well vote for the tpp..
..than a promo-poster..
..which wd you believe..?
“..they will vote to support a tpp-deal..”
“..that he may well vote for the tpp..”
“..that i just heard..”
“..which wd you believe..?”
what is the difference..allen..?
Really? One is a definitive, the other is not.
you get todays’ pedant-award..
..the bottom-line is that norman said that as part of a coalition with labour..
..they would support deep-sea-oil-drilling/fracking/wouldn’t decriminalise cannabis..
..and would vote for a tpp-deal..
..go on..!
..fucken spin that..!
Phil – you are on a roll although I wish you weren’t 🙂
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11228752
Just watched the interview and this is closer to what Norman actually said “The TPP would have to change “very significantly” before the Greens would vote in favour of it.”
Of course the GP could be part of a govt that does things that the GP disagrees with. How else can coalitions be formed?
I’m not clear re the TPP, whether a house-wide vote is required, or whether they mean a decision within caucus. Does anyone know?
Any good reason why the GP in govt can’t abstain on votes or vote against legislation act by act?
weka..
..and yr spin on the vote for fracking/deep-sea-drilling/no decrim of cannabis..?
..would love to see/hear how you will package that doozy-trio..
and seriously..!..one persons’ ‘significant-change’..
..is anothers’ s.f.a..
“..Any good reason why the GP in govt can’t abstain on votes or vote against legislation act by act?..”
..no weka..they can’t..it’s called collective cabinet responsibilty..
..if they slide their arses into those bmw’s..
..they will have to vote for whatever piece of shit labour may throw up..
..and they can’t even speak out against it..
..how’s them berries..?
Metiria Turei has posted this on Facebook:
“Metiria Turei
Don’t listen to Paddy Gower, he twists everything to what he wants to say not what is real. The Green Party opposes the TPPA. If we are in a govt with Labour it will be bec we have influence and we will use that influence over the TPPA as well as lots of other policies. We will have more influence if we have more votes so we need your Party Vote on September 20 to strengthen our arm in the negotiations. You have the power to influence the outcome on the TPPA and deep sea oil drilling. For the sake of our people and oceans, please use that power on September 20.”
Given that we’ve all seen what wee Paddy can do, I believe her.
i want to see her deny/promise the greens wd vote for the tpp..
..anything less is nothing…
..and just confirms that they wd..
..and how about the deep-sea-drilling/fracking/fuck pot-reform..?
In that case you should get in touch and ask her. As unbelievable as most of us would find it, your posts and your blog may not be the first items on her list of “must reads” each day.
it’s not about me muzza..
..it’s about the green party..
..eh..?
..and i’m sure i wouldn’t be the only one seeking that (elusive) assurance..
..you really have to pin lawyers down..
..i find..
Nah, with you, it’s always about you. You crave attention so much you have a Pete George like ability to settle for abuse and contempt. It’s about you so much that you expect that people will pay to read your blog. You have one of the largest and most undeserved egos I’ve ever come across. You misunderstand almost everything you read, then call others liars. Oh, it’s about you alright. You have a total inability to let it be about anything else.
was it something i said..there..?..muzza..?
http://www.3news.co.nz/Norman-sets-sights-on-deputy-PM-role/tabid/1348/articleID/337889/Default.aspx
I just watched the vid.
Basically, Norman said the Greens would be pragmatic in any post-election deals as they have been in every case in the past (excluding GMO). Meanwhile Gower was trying his damndest to put words in Russel’s mouth.
What did you expect Russel to say, Phil?
“I’m not going to compromise on anything!”???
Can’t wait for the spun version of the interview from Gower on TV3 tonight.
As Norman says:
“Well, no, Paddy- you can paraphrase it like that, but..”
“..What did you expect Russel to say, Phil?
“I’m not going to compromise on anything!”???
..maybe not..
‘i’m going to compromise on everything’
..eh.?
..i mean..why would you bother voting for them..
..if they are just fucken labour-lite..?
Did he say he was going to compromise on everything?
No he did not.
He was realistic that whatever they could achieve would be dependent on their party vote. At one point I think he actually implored the viewer to vote Green so they would have more bargaining power post-election.
He wasn’t going to be drawn into a crystal-ball session just because Gower wanted him to say something he could hang him on.
“Greens opposition to TPP remains. Our ability to deliver on this position, and others, in any post election negotiations depends on our vote”
https://twitter.com/RusselNorman/status/449778285874905089
Doorknocking for the party of David Cunliffe and Phil Goff won’t guarantee opposition to the TPP.
I hope that Labour changes their position on TPP. I’m hoping that their position is really just Goff’s position and that Labour will change that in the near future.
They look foolish and untrustworthy to bang on about neoliberalism and then still support TPP.
@ geoff..
“..Did he say he was going to compromise on everything?
No he did not…”
..yes he did..
‘we have no bottom-lines..’
..w.t.f does that mean..if not that..?
Tell me what minute in the video he utters the words “I’m going to compromise on everything”
Yeah OK Phil – welcome to ShonKey Python, then the Milky Bar Crud, then the poncey wee Simon Bridges, then some entitled little Young Nationals git who right now is still at Kings College – as our prime ministers from here until 20 years hence.
You’re reminding me of the virgin who while aching to get into it absolutely won’t get into it for fear that it won’t be perfect straight off and it might be messy. And fuck’n moaning about the lack of it. Lighten up for fuck’s sake.
Russel Norman/Metiria Turei/all the Greens are light years more real and gifted than ShonKey Python and his band of venal, mainchance sociopaths. They’ve been the only real opposition to the sociopaths for at least the past three years Phil ! Give them a little bit of credit man. Instead of being insufferably impeccable all the time. Grizzling old virgin you.
I’m not a Greenie either. Renewed my MANA Movement membership just the other day. Shit it felt good !
Meteria in Auckland for the TPPA demo today.
Can folks on The Standard pool information about which of our Member of Parliaments were speaking or standing with the people at the 16 locations this afternoon?
Quite obviously, Natz puppets would be safely tucked away in their corporate cupboards.
Greens have been very visible all round the country, I understand.
Were any Labour MPs or candidates out and about, and where?
cunnliffe was booed in ak..(over his weaseling around tpp….)
..he was the only labour person i saw..
..and a clutch of greens..were present….
(i saw roche/turei/graham..
..i actually complimented graham on the death-stare he employs/deploys in parliament..)
Cheers, phillip ure.
And, thanks to Poission for pointing out the press release from NZF which is clear and says:
“New Zealand First MPs will take part in the national day of action against the TPP.”
Can someone explain Labour’s penultimate paragraph with the specific reference to two weeks: https://www.labour.org.nz/tppa ?
I would like to see that explained too. I hope it is a typo – if it is not it is an insult to our intelligence.
Was hard to see in Auckland
David Cunliffe (Labour).
Asenati Lole-Taylor (NZ First)
I don’t have to spin anything, especially you making contradictory statements in the space of two posts, that’s plain to see by all.
I’ll wear your pedant medal like I wear the chuckle at your disingenuous perception.
For the record, I’m watching the replay of the nation and Norman explicitly said he was against deep sea drilling… That’s strike one.
On the tpp about whether the Green party could vote for the tpp he said, “it could potentially, but it depends” [on the size of the green vote and what the tpp contains]. Strike two
he says he will vote for them..
..take the cloth out of yr ears..
..you can’t polish a turd..
..no matter how hard you try..
Are you doing that ‘puppy thing’ again Phillip, must have a look at the Nation replay tomorrow to see if what you seen is what you seen…
I can only repeat what I’ve just seen and heard, but it does differ from what you’ve stated, well the first time any way. The second time, when you said “he may well vote for the tpp” you got it correct.
Most rational folk will agree that Norman’s main thrust was the more votes the Green party gets, the stronger it’s negotiating position, and thus more party policy makes it to the statute book.
I’m happy to disagree, but certain those more qualified and invested in Green politics than I, can explain it to you.
I don’t have TV reception, and can’t see any online clips yet on the TV3 site of Norman’s Nation interview. However, I am more inclined to regard The Allen’s summary as the accurate one. I guess I’ll have to wait until after tomorrow to know for sure.
It does seem contradictory for the Green Party to both support today’s anti-TPPA rally, but on the same day have their co-leader state that he’ll vote for it.
“..It does seem contradictory for the Green Party to both support today’s anti-TPPA rally, but on the same day have their co-leader state that he’ll vote for it…”
doesn’t it..?
..you could call this the exposing the inherent contradictions interview for norman..
..and i guess..like allen..you will see/read/believe what you want to see/read/believe..
..but i don’t think i will be the only one making that call on normans’ revelations..
..if i were an old skool green party supporter..
..i wd be feeling a bit gutted by this..
..and as i am..i am..
..what the fuck have they done to ‘my’ party..?
” i guess..like allen..you will see/read/believe what you want to see/read/believe”
That’s The Al1en to you, and a little irony lol for fun 😆
Have a nice day Mr Ure.
Isn’t that the same as rerecording your songs without the electronic voice?
woops should be for the comment below – sorry
I don’t see how, the caveat on my music page clearly states I can’t sing or play, and I do advise the listener have cotton buds and bleach close to hand, just in case they need to rinse their ears.
Likewise I’m sure the Greens aren’t trying to con anyone out of a vote by becoming seriously electable and using the tools at their disposal to put forward their message. It’s not a sin or crime or double standard, just like Dylan using an electric guitar wasn’t a sell out or a bad thing.
But the Greens are doing well as a 15% party vote shows. They can sing there own tunes, with or without electronic aid, I don’t mind 😉
I meant the editing of phil’s prose but it all went askew when I put the comment in the wrong place.
Fair enough, I didn’t get it, but was just spinning it for spins sake, just in case 😆
I’ll hum it if you sing it https://soundcloud.com/theal1en/easy-street
“If I were an old school green party supporter I would be feeling a bit gutted by this, and as I am, I am. What the fuck have they done to ‘my’ party?”
The edit is mine, as a little Saturday gift 😉
To answer, I think what they have done is make the party much more electable to a wider section of the electorate.
It’s still my intention to give them my party vote in September, and I’ve seen or heard nothing from them that has caused me to contemplate changing my mind. The party looks to be in good shape, based on sound principles, headed by professional, dedicated mps.
Who could want more from a left of centre party than an electable, credible partner in government shaping the direction of a still ‘wonky’ Labour party?
who would want another party just like labour..?
+1, nicely put Al1en
Hard to argue
+1
sounds like John Minto spoke well about Mana and the kaupapa on TV – will try and catch it online tomorrow.
minto kicked arse..
..and manas’ mana is rising moment by moment..
..it is fast becoming clear that they are the only party for serious change..
..the greens have become just another same-old same-old party..
..maybe they should go for a colour/name change..
..how about the beige-party..?
tve has a basic language/comprehension-fail..
..they are interpreting minto saying ‘there is no deal on the table’..
..as minto saying no-deal outright..
..whereas minto actually listed what is ok about i.p policies..
..and that mana is waiting to see the social-policies..
..’deal on the table’..means deal ready to be signed..
..how can they be such fucken morons..?
“It does seem contradictory for the Green Party to both support today’s anti-TPPA rally, but on the same day have their co-leader state that he’ll vote for it.”
It would indeed if Norman had said that, but he didn’t. What he said was that the agreement would have to change hugely for the GP to support it. He also didn’t say that he or the GP will support deep sea oil drilling or fracking. Nor did he say that legalising cannabis isn’t a priority. It was actually Gower that said the first two things and phil that said the third thing. I think The Al1en’s summation above is pretty good, and here is the link for those that can watch it online
http://www.3news.co.nz/Norman-sets-sights-on-deputy-PM-role/tabid/1356/articleID/337889/Default.aspx
haha..!..hilarious..!..there weka..
..so norman actually said no..we wont vote for tpp..
..and..we will vote agaimst deep-sea-drilling..
..and we will vote against fracking..
..and we will fight for pot-decrim:..’it’s on our list’..
..eh..?
..right ho..!
..carry on..!
No he didn’t say those things either, and I didn’t say he did. You really do have trouble with comprehension phil. All I have done is watch the video and point out that your portrayal was quite inaccurate. I’m not the only one that has done that.
i just went and watched it again..
..and i don’t resile from a word i said…
NZ first is both supporting the protest and calling for increased transparency.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1403/S00570/lift-the-black-out-on-sneaky-treaty-negotiations.htm
Norman confirmed there were no bottom lines for the Green Party to support a Labour-led government.
Unlike genetically engineered organisms in 2002, the TPPA is not a bottom line for the Green Party in 2014. Whatever else he says, this is the pertinent point.
He also said he did not think legalising cannabis would be on the party’s key priority list in post election negotiations.
They’re valid questions, because this once radical party may be on the brink of holding ministerial posts.
As Sue Bradford suggested in the panel discussion afterwards, the party has changed and is now focused on the centre vote, and more willing to compromise.
Having said that, Gower needs to broaden his question base from bottom lines, it’s tiresome.
Surprisingly, Phil is completely wrong. Russel Norman explicitly says the Greens are against deep sea drilling and fracking, and support the decriminalisation of cannabis. Gower tries hard to push him into a corner, but is not successful.
What he says about the actions of a government in which the Greens might play a part is quite reasonable. They will fight for their policies and how successful they are will depend on the weight of seats. From his point of view, it would be irresponsible to say much more than this.
No-one is claiming the Greens will actively support policies against their core principles, just that they are not making them bottom lines in terms of giving support to Labour to form a government. There is a difference. Sue Bradford on the panel afterwards said that if she was a Green member, she would be worried by the extent to which the party has moved to the centre. She said she was surprised by some of Norman’s answers. Everyone knows politics is about compromise, but people have a right to feel disappointed if it’s a core issue for them, surely.
“Everyone knows politics is about compromise, but people have a right to feel disappointed if it’s a core issue for them, surely.”
I’ve lived in NZ for nearly 50 years and I’ve never had a govt or political party who met my expectations. I don’t really know why people on the outside of the bell curve expect things to be the way they want. I thought the point of being on the edge was to lead the way. The GP have been doing that for a long time. It’s now time for them to step into the responsibility they’ve been working for and that means being mainstream. There will have to be compromises, but I don’t see any problem with what they have done to date. Once the GP gain govt, I expect to be thoroughly pissed off with them within the decade, but I completely support the move they are making in that direction now. The best thing about that TV3 piece was Fitzimmons saying how not having cabinet posts worked in their favour and for the betterment of the country. The point there isn’t that staying outside of govt is best, but that the GP plays the game smart. They still are, it’s just that smart is a different strategy now. She also said that it was more important back then for them to build the GP long term. I feel such gratitude to her and those other GP workers right now, because that foresight and hard work is about to pay off.
Yes people can feel disappointed, but then they start slagging off the GP by misrepresenting what the GP is doing then they can expect to be called on it.
i’ll come back later and unpack that one for u weka..
..but where to start..?
..news calls for now..
@ olsen..now you are just fucken outright lying..
..norman said pot was not on their to-do list..
..w.t.f.was unclear about that..?
.and he also admitted to being ready to comprimise on all those key issues..
..i repeat..w.t.f.was unclear about that..?
People can listen to it for themselves. He said decriminalisation woudn’t be on the top 10 issues. Anyone who hadn’t rotted their brain cells past the ability to write a coherent sentence, let alone understand one, would be able to see that.
+1
It’s you that is outright lying phil. Decriminilising cannabis is still GP policy. Before the election they will name their top ten issues so that people will know what will be the key areas on the table for post-election negotiations, and Norman expects that cannabis won’t be on that list. But that is completely different than saying it’s not on their to do list.
the logic/faith you display there weka..
..is worthy of something or other..
“.. Norman expects that cannabis won’t be on that list.
But that is completely different than saying it’s not on their to do list..”
fucken brilliant..!
..should i have called it their:..’might possibly think about at some time in the dim/dark/distant future list’..?
..would that ease yr unease..?
..fuck..!..yr funny..!
(and chrs 4 the early-morning belly-laughs..!..eh..?)
.and i am sure those fighting for an end to the evils of prohibition..
..will be both calmed and reassured by yr words..eh..?
..’rejoice..!..rejoice..!..it is still on a list..somewhere..’
and i’m telling ya..warning ya..
..that should the internet party come out with a sane/colorado-model policy to legalise/regulate/tax pot..
..that sucking sound you will hear will be a disturbing number of yr longterm voters..
..pulling away their support for you..
..don’t say you haven’t been fucken warned..eh..?
That’s probably true.
And unfortunate, because the IP are not going to find themselves in any position to negotiate legalisation.
And those voters are going to be super pissed off when they figure that out post-election.
phil, there’s a difference between a list of stuff you want to do and a list of stuff you think you can do given your circumstances.
correct..
.and they have pot on their can’t do list..
..yr point..?
Just the bleeding obvious. The Greens know that pushing legalisation will get them nowhere given their current circumstances.
Thing about circumstances is they change.
d’you know how far we are lagging behind the most conservative/southern states in america..on this issue..?
..i repeat..’the most conservative/southern states’..
..and all of yr protestations/pin-head-dancing to one side..
..the facts/perceptions still stand..
..and if dotcom comes out with a sane pot policy..
..the green party will lose an (unquantifiable) number of votes..
..to the internet party..
..spin that fact how you like..
“.and they have pot on their can’t do list..”
No they fucking don’t. They think that there are at least 10 other issues more important to be dealing with as a priority this election (actually, we don’t know, because the GP hasn’t named that list of ten yet, Norman just said he doubted cannabis would be on it). Most GP voters will agree with that (and most NZers).
There is nothing to stop GP members or MPs advancing the cause of legalising cannabis in the next electoral cycle. What are you doing to help them phil?
“phil, there’s a difference between a list of stuff you want to do and a list of stuff you think you can do given your circumstances.”
Indeed, but I’ll just point out that all Norman said was that he doubted that cannabis decriminalisation would be in the top ten. He didn’t say it wasn’t going to be worked on, and in fact reasserted that decriminalisation is still GP policy.
Even if the GP were polling higher than Labour, I doubt that they would consider decriminalising cannabis as in the top ten (they might, it’s up to the party, not Norman). There are many urgent issues out there. Will be interesting to see what the top ten are this year.
Phil, all I am asking of you is some intellectual honesty. You are misrepresenting Norman’s words to suit your own agenda. Puts you in the same bracket as Gower. That’s up to you, but when it distorts the political discussion, that makes it other people’s business.
Weka
Thanks for the link. PU seems to have manned the barricades on this one, but Norman is no more pro-TPP than he is pro-deep sea drilling. No contradiction.
Too much time spent on David Hay in the preamble though, why is he so keen to be where he’s not wanted? And there were a few points where one might validly criticise Norman’s performance; fortunately PU and Gower seem to have missed them entirely.
Yeah, I thought the focus on Hay was ott (thankfully the guy seems to have gotten the message now). Am curious as to the points you where might criticise Norman’s performance.
btw..porridge-recipie update:..
..i have come to the conclusion that both pear and (chopped up) dates are essential-ingredients..
..if seeking that transcendental-porridge-experience..
..my taste-buds are currently cossack-dancing all around my mouth..
..i have a serious afterglow going on..
Chris Trotter had a think about the Te Kohanga Reo and Maori TV situations that have been in the news lately.
His comments on Maori direction seem to fit what I observe.
Looking at the Maori Party and the behaviour exhibited by many iwi following treaty payouts and the still deplorable situations of many young urban Maori, one doesn’t need to be Nostradamus to work that one out.
Film-maker Ken Loach argues in the Guardian this week that Labour is part of the problem, not the solution.
It’s worth a read and applies equally in NZ; no party’s tapping into fragmented and various social causes and protest movements. The surge of enthusiasm we saw last year in the unions and to an extent the electorate for Cunliffe was in my view expressing hope of a new left movement. My fear is that if Labour loses this election the right of the party will firmly take control, under the phony pretext that the electorate rejected the move to the left, which never eventuated as Cunliffe turned out to be business as usual.
From Loach’s piece:
‘We know that housing support goes to rich landlords, that benefits for the working poor subsidise employers who pay poverty wages. We read that benefit fraud is a tiny fraction of the overall welfare budget, far less than unclaimed benefits, and is nothing compared to the amount lost through tax dodging. But as we rail against the injustice and hypocrisy, we fail to ask one big question. Where is our political fightback? It should be led by the Labour party but therein lies the problem.
The coalition parties proclaim the importance of the market economy. So does Labour. The coalition cuts back on public enterprise and prioritises the interests of big corporations and private companies. So did the last Labour government. Whenever workers organise to defend jobs, wages or conditions, who supports them? Not Ed Miliband or other Labour leaders.’
And therein lies the problem. Labour refuses to accept that the free-market dogma that they saddled us with in the 1980s is the problem and thus Labour remain part of the problem and not the solution.
Good comment worth reading – here are some bits of gold from Ken Loach leftunity article.
Labour’s rhetoric may be softer than the Tories’, but its fundamental stance is limited by the same imperative: profit comes before all else. Can the Labour party be reclaimed? Or, rather, made anew into one that will represent the interests of the people?
History suggests it cannot. The high-water mark of 1945 is long gone. The many great achievements of that government have largely been dismantled, either with the collusion of Labour or directly by the party when it has been in power. The Labour left has all but disappeared, and even Tony Benn’s voice is now sadly silent. A Miliband government will not reverse any of the privatisations in the health service or elsewhere. It will not take the railways back into public ownership – despite the popularity of such a move – or even reclaim Royal Mail…….
The Labour manifesto of 1945 would be a better inspiration. It promised “a socialist party and proud of it. Its ultimate purpose … is the establishment of the socialist commonwealth, free, democratic, efficient, progressive, public-spirited, its material resources organised in the service of the … people”.
Left Unity has a conference in Manchester on Saturday (29 March). Visit http://www.leftunity.org
Thanks E.R. for the link. Got to keep chewing on this bone.
Tamati Coffey selected as labour candidate in rotorua.
Here’s more evidence that National’s anti-Internet-Party blitzkrieg is partly motivated by the fear that dotcom may get more votes than the MSM suspect.
http://www.3news.co.nz/Minto-Mana-open-to-Dotcom-deal/tabid/1607/articleID/337923/Default.aspx
Key is really trying to drive home the Kim dotCom = Nazi meme.
Their efforts may well be counter productive.
In this vid (about 4mins in):
http://www.3news.co.nz/Minto-Mana-open-to-Dotcom-deal/tabid/1607/articleID/337923/Default.aspx
Keith Locke talks about how National’s attempts to paint the Greens as extremists backfired and contributed to them breaking the 5% threshold to get into parliament.
Perhaps the same could occur with the Internet Party.
Just wanted to acknowledge the recent deaths of two important Wellington progressives:
Today’s Dominion Post included an obituary for trade unionist, feminist and activist, Viv Walker. Viv’s agenda “was not to get more women into the board rooms of CEO’s offices; it was to get rights for the women who cleaned the boardrooms and corporate offices.” She was active in the anti-apartheid and feminist movements and it’s typical of the modesty and humility of people like Viv that she left instructions that no-one was to make her into a hero at her funeral – she wanted to be seen as ordinary.
(Brilliant but self-depreciating activists like Viv are worth a thousand Helen Clarks and other status-seeking, power-hungry upper-middle class liberal elites in my opinion. She’s one of the true heros, even if she denied as much).
In January, long-time and legendary Victoria University Political Scientist, Les Cleveland , died (aged 92). He had a highly colourful life, fought as a member of the 2NZEF in the Pacific and Italy in WWII (a keen moutaineer, he scaled Mt Blanc as part of his own post-WWII victory celebration), a poet, singer/song-writer, authority on wartime songs, press gallery journalist, photographer, short-story writer and folklorist. Cleveland was also a long-time protester, as a relatively recent Dominion Post obituary put it: “there was an unashamed, generous, subversive side to this left-wing lifetime supporter of Michael Joseph Savage’s welfare state.”
Two great progressives who deserve recognition.
Thanks swordfish. I like this comment on Les Cleveland –
“there was an unashamed, generous, subversive side to this left-wing lifetime supporter of Michael Joseph Savage’s welfare state.”
If all Labour had had that deeply embedded then we wouldn’t have lost Savage’s commitment to people and had it replaced by devotion to The People, The Party and to maintaining the Left idea in politics and unions, rather than the Left ideal.
I regret to inform you that you have all forgotten about Earth Hour, which finished 10 minutes ago. Does nobody care about the Earth any more?
Tell us more jaymam. I have forgottn anything I knew about this.
What’s not to like about a study that says medical marijuana’s legalization may lead to lower crime rates.
http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0092816
Press release:
“We’re cautious about saying, ‘Medical marijuana laws definitely reduce homicide.’ That’s not what we’re saying,” Morris said. “The main finding is that we found no increase in crime rates resulting from medical marijuana legalization. In fact, we found some evidence of decreasing rates of some types of violent crime, namely homicide and assault.
Bombast Bradbury desperately defensive that his Dotcom/MANA deal has fallen through and is now impossible.
http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2014/03/30/cameron-slater-press-gallery-hubris-and-bloggers-inside-the-press-council-tent/
my comment is ,just to ask you why any body like my self who has spoken out about an issue that I feel needs a public discussion and has affected my whole adult life , find my self ignored should feel ok with democracy as it is . .five years is a long time to wait and if others have been brushed aside as I have been then all is lost . there is no longer any interest in what others who want my vote have too say yet again I will throw my vote away on a minor party .
Why would anyone who believes in socialist principles vote for a charicature of capitalist greed, consumption and excess like Dotcom anyway?
I don’t imagine anyone who believes in socialist principles ever would.
Then as per usual you have not been paying attention, you irredeemable tosser
Sure. I guess you can demonstrate this somehow, perhaps some links to a few lefties/socialists saying they’ll vote for Dotcom.
Otherwise it’s all in your imagination. As usual.
Question Why pay attention to Dotcom.
Answer Because this is a political stage and all of us merely players: –
And now he is on our side. Why can’t we accept what could be a helping hand when we are stretched. Get real Pop. And don’t waste your venom on left supporters. We may be lesser beings to yourself but we have our uses.